The water temperature off the tip of Florida hit hot tub levels, exceeding 37.8 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) two days in a row this week. Meteorologists say that could potentially be the hottest seawater ever measured, although there are some issues with the reading. 

Just 40 kilometers (26 miles) away, scientists saw devastating effects from prolonged hot water surrounding Florida — coral bleaching and some death in what had been one of the Florida Keys’ most resilient reefs. Climate change has been setting temperature records across the globe this month. 

Weather records for sea water temperature are unofficial, and there are certain conditions in this reading that could disqualify it for a top mark, meteorologists said. But the initial reading on a buoy at Manatee Bay hit 38.4 Celsius (101.1 degrees F) Monday evening, according to National Weather Service meteorologist George Rizzuto. On Sunday night the same buoy showed an online reading of 37.9 Celsius (100.2 F) degrees. 

“It seems plausible,” Rizzuto said. “That is a potential record.” 

‘A record-breaking event’

While there aren’t official water temperature records, a 2020 study listed a 37.6 Celsius (99.7 F) mark in Kuwait Bay in July 2020 as the world’s highest recorded sea surface temperature. Rizzuto said a new record from Florida is plausible because nearby buoys measured in the 36.7 and 37.2 Celsius (98 and 99 F) degree range. 

“This is a hot tub. I like my hot tub around 100, 101, (37.8, 38.3 Celsius). That’s what was recorded yesterday,” said Yale Climate Connections meteorologist Jeff Masters. Hot tub maker Jacuzzi recommends water between 100 and 102 degrees (37.8 and 38.9 Celsius). 

“We’ve never seen a record-breaking event like this before,” Masters said. 

Masters and University of Miami tropical meteorologist Brian McNoldy said while the hot temperatures fit with what’s happening around Florida, it may not be accepted as a record because the area is shallow, has sea grasses in it and may be influenced by warm land in the nearby Everglades National Park. 

Still, McNoldy said, “it’s amazing.” 

The fact that two 100 degree measurements were taken on consecutive days gives credence to the readings, McNoldy said. Water temperatures have been in the upper 90s in the area for more than two weeks. 

Even resilient corals succumb

There aren’t many coral reefs in Manatee Bay, but elsewhere in the Florida Keys, scientists diving at Cheeca Rocks found bleaching and death in some of the Keys most resilient corals, said Ian Enochs, lead of the coral program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. 

NOAA researcher Andrew Ibarra, who took his kayak to the area because of the hot water, said, “I found that the entire reef was bleached out. Every single coral colony was exhibiting some form of paling, partial bleaching or full out bleaching.” 

Some coral had died, he said. This is on top of bleaching seen last week by the University of Miami as NOAA increased the level of alert for coral problems earlier this month. 

Until the 1980s, coral bleaching was mostly unheard of around the globe yet “now we’ve reached the point where it’s become routine,” Enochs said. Bleaching, which doesn’t kill coral but weakens it and could lead to death, occurs when water temperatures pass the low 30s Celsius (upper 80s F), Enochs said. 

“This is more, earlier than we have ever seen,” Enochs said. “I’m nervous by how early this is occurring.” 

This all comes as sea surface temperatures worldwide have broken monthly records for heat in April, May and June, according to NOAA. And temperatures in the North Atlantic are off the charts — as much as 5 to 6 degrees Celsius (9 to 11 degrees F) warmer than normal in some spots near Newfoundland, McNoldy said. 
…

First Lady Jill Biden Tuesday marked the U.S.’ return to the United Nations’ cultural organization after five years away, amid concerns that its absence has let China take a lead in key areas like artificial intelligence and technology education. 

“I was honored to join you today as we raise the flag of the United States, a symbol of our commitment to global collaboration and peace,” Biden said in Paris, as the American flag joined 193 others under the shadow of the city’s major cultural landmark, the Eiffel Tower. “The United States is proud to join as a member state of UNESCO. Madam Director-General, you’ve worked long and hard to help us realize this goal.”   

The roots of the withdrawal date back to 2011, when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization gave Palestine full membership as a state. Palestine is not a U.N.-recognized state. That led the Obama administration to freeze U.S. financial contributions to UNESCO – about a fifth of the agency’s budget. 

[[https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R42999.html]]. 

In 2017, the U.S. State Department cited “mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO” as reasons to complete the withdrawal the following year. 

The Biden administration now faces a $619 million debt. The Biden administration has asked for $150 million in the 2024 budget. 

UNESCO also has designated 1,157 properties around the world as having major cultural significance, including the ancient town of Bethlehem, technically in Israel but classified by UNESCO as being in Palestine.   

The prominent American Jewish Committee told VOA they supported the U.S. decision to rejoin UNESCO despite its concerns about what it sees as lack of recognition of Jewish culture and the Jewish state.   

“UNESCO is an important agency,” Jason Isaacson, chief policy and political affairs officer for the American Jewish Committee, told VOA. “It’s not perfect. Nor is any other U.N. entity. But it does really important work. And it is a vehicle for soft power, for the exercise of soft power in the United States to not be in that agency meant that other players — competitors, rivals of the United States — could have a seat at the table, could have cultural programs, scientific exchanges, educational programs, in countries all over the world, especially the developing world in places and in ways that the United States could not.”

Recognition of iconic sites

UNESCO’s most famous totems are its world heritage sites, which include monuments that have weathered long stretches of human history. This month, a massive heat wave forced authorities in Athens to close the Acropolis, a massive edifice that has loomed over the Greek capital for three millennia. 

Simmering ethnic conflict in Ethiopia in recent years has hampered religious pilgrims’ access to the massive, ancient rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, a mountain town known in the 13th century as ‘New Jerusalem.’ 

And the COVID pandemic has kept footfalls light on China’s great Great Wall, the massive fortification whose construction began in the 3rd Century B.C. and UNESCO estimates once boasted a total length of 20,000 kilometers. 

This year, UNESCO added another entry to its vaunted list: the historic center of the bustling Ukrainian port city of Odesa, a critical port for Ukraine’s agricultural exports. 

This month, a Russian airstrike tore through the city, dropping a missile through the roof of its soaring cathedral and shattering the altar.   

UNESCO issued a condemnation.   

“On this night alone in Odesa, nearly 50 buildings were damaged, 25 of them architectural monuments,” said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “The historic center. A world heritage site that UNESCO has taken under its protection.”   

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, UNESCO has verified damage to 270 of its designated “cultural sites” in Ukraine. 

The heavy responsibility of carrying all this cultural weight is lighter now that the U.S. is back, said UNESCO’s director-general, Audrey Azoulay.   

“In these times of division, rifts and existential threats to humanity, we reaffirm here and today our union,” she said. “The star-spangled banner of the United States of America will float in a few moments over the Paris skies.”   
…

A former United States military pilot’s Sydney extradition hearing on U.S. charges, including that he illegally trained Chinese aviators, was postponed Tuesday while authorities investigate the role of an Australian spy agency in his arrest. 

Boston-born Dan Duggan, 54, was arrested by Australian police in October near his home, in Orange, New South Wales, and has been fighting extradition to the United States. The former U.S. Marine Corps major and flying instructor maintains he has done nothing wrong and is an innocent victim of a worsening power struggle between Washington and Beijing. 

“This is a signal, signal sending. It has nothing to do with me personally,” Duggan told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in a telephone call from maximum-security prison. 

“It’s more to do with the signal that they want to send in a geopolitical sense,” he added in an interview broadcast on Monday. 

His lawyers successfully applied Tuesday in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court for the extradition hearing to be delayed until November 24 while they await findings about their allegation that Duggan, now an Australian citizen, was illegally lured from China back to Australia in 2022 to be arrested. 

Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Christopher Jessup, the regulator of Australia’s six spy agencies, announced in March that he was investigating Duggan’s allegation that the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, known as ASIO, was part of a U.S. ploy to extradite him. 

Duggan returned from China to work in Australia after he received an ASIO security clearance for an aviation license. A few days after his arrival, the ASIO clearance was removed, which his lawyers argue made the job opportunity an illegal lure to a U.S. extradition partner country. They expect Jessup’s findings will provide grounds to oppose extradition and apply for his release from prison on bail before the extradition question is resolved. 

Duggan’s grounds for resisting extradition include his claim that the prosecution is political and that the crime he is accused of does not exist under Australian law. The extradition treaty between the two countries that has existed since 1976 requires that a suspect can only be extradited for an allegation that is recognized by both countries as a crime. 

The Australian government is reviewing laws to ensure former military personnel cannot sell their expertise to the Chinese military. 

Saffrine Duggan, Duggan’s wife and mother of their six children, addressed more than 20 supporters who protested outside the court for his release. 

“I would never have thought this could ever happen in Australia, let alone to our family,” she said. “My family is brave and strong and so are our friends and so is my husband, but we are all terribly torn apart.” 

She complained in February that Australia was holding her husband in inhumane conditions. 

Dan Duggan said the Chinese pilots he trained while he was contracted by flying school Test Flying Academy of South Africa in 2011 and 2012 — the period covered by the charges — were civilians, and nothing he taught was classified. 

His lawyer, Bernard Collaery, said the Australian and Chinese navies were involved in joint training exercises around the time Duggan was accused of “consorting with the enemy.” 

“It’s a double standard, it’s hypocrisy,” Collaery said. “If Australia does extradite him, we’re liable to see him become a pawn in this China game. It is very worrying.” 
…

A former U.S. Marine who was freed by Russia last year in a prisoner swap has been injured while fighting for Ukraine against Moscow’s forces, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday. 

Trevor Reed, who was held by Russia for more than two years before winning his freedom in April 2022, sustained shrapnel wounds after stepping on a landmine about two weeks ago but now is recovering at a German hospital, according to U.S. news accounts. 

The U.S. has repeatedly warned Americans to not visit Ukraine during the war, let alone join Ukrainian forces in the fight against Russia. At some point, however, Reed became one of what is believed to be several thousand U.S. fighters who have joined Kyiv’s forces.

But State Department spokesman Vedant Patel, while acknowledging Reed’s battlefield injury, said Reed “was not engaged in any activities on behalf of the U.S. government.” 

With the help of a nongovernmental organization, Reed “has been transported to Germany, and he is receiving medical care,” Patel said. 

Reed’s condition was not immediately clear. 

Reed was arrested in 2019 for violence against a Russian police officer and later sentenced to nine years in prison. Following his arrest, his family engaged in an extensive public advocacy effort to get him freed. 

Eventually, the administration of President Joe Biden secured his release, swapping Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a convicted Russian cocaine smuggler serving a 20-year sentence in the U.S. 
…

UPS has reached a tentative contract with its 340,000-person union, potentially averting a strike that threatened to disrupt package deliveries for millions of businesses and households nationwide. 

The agreement was announced Tuesday, the first day that UPS and the Teamsters had returned to the table after contentious negotiations broke down earlier this month. 

Negotiators had already reached tentative agreements on several issues but continued to clash over pay for part-time workers, who make up more than half of the UPS employees represented by the union. 

The Teamsters hailed the agreement as historic. 

Under the tentative agreement, which still needs union members’ approval, full- and part-time union workers will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more over the duration of the five-year contract. The agreement also includes a provision to increase starting pay for part-time workers — whom the union says are the most at risk of exploitation — from $16.20 per hour to $21 per hour. The average pay for part-timers had been $20. 

Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement that UPS put $30 billion more on the table and said the deal “sets a new standard in the labor movement.” 

The two sides had tentatively agreed to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a full holiday and to end forced overtime on drivers’ days off. Tentative agreements on safety issues had also been reached, including equipping more trucks with air conditioning. 

UPS had also agreed to eliminate a lower-paid category of drivers who work shifts that include weekends and convert them into regular full-time drivers. Under the agreement, the company will create 7,500 full-time jobs and fill 22,500 open positions, allowing more part-timers to transition to full-time. 

“Together we reached a win-win-win agreement on the issues that are important to Teamsters leadership, our employees and to UPS and our customers,” Carol Tome, UPS CEO, said in a written statement. 

Voting on the new contract begins August 3 and concludes August 22. 

Industry groups, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, labor leaders and the White House applauded the deal. 

“This agreement is a testament to the power of employers and employees coming together to work out their differences at the bargaining table in a manner that helps businesses succeed while helping workers secure pay and benefits they can raise a family on and retire with dignity and respect,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. 

Union members, angered by a contract they say union leadership forced on them five years ago, argued that they have shouldered the more than 140% profit growth at UPS as the pandemic increased delivery demand. Unionized workers said they wanted to right what they saw as a bad contract. 

The 24 million packages UPS ships daily amount to about a quarter of all U.S. parcel volume, according to the global shipping and logistics firm Pitney Bowes. According to UPS, that’s equivalent to about 6% of the nation’s gross domestic product. 
…

Next year, a daily oral birth control pill will be available in the United States without a prescription for the first time. Reproductive health advocates say the move will improve the well-being of women in the country, but some groups have raised concerns. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias explains.
…

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a rule that allows immigration authorities to deny asylum to migrants who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border without first applying online or seeking protection in a country they passed through. But the judge delayed his ruling from taking effect immediately to give the administration time to appeal.

The order from U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar of the Northern District of California takes away a key enforcement tool set in place by the Biden administration as coronavirus-based restrictions on asylum expired in May. The use of a rule known as Title 42 allowed the U.S. to expel millions of people starting in early 2020 on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. 

The new rule imposed severe limitations on migrants seeking asylum. It included room for exceptions and did not apply to children traveling alone. Tigar’s order will not take effect for two weeks. 

Immigrant rights groups that sued argued it was a violation of U.S. law that protects the right to asylum regardless of how a person enters the country. The groups said it forced migrants to seek protection in countries that don’t have the same robust asylum system and human rights protections as the United States and leaves them in a dangerous limbo. They also argued that the CBP One app the government wants migrants to use doesn’t have enough appointments and isn’t available in enough languages. 

The Biden administration said the asylum rule was a key part of its strategy to strike a balance between strict border enforcement and ensuring several avenues for migrants to pursue valid asylum claims. The rule was a response to political and economic instability fueling an exodus of migrants from countries including Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela. 

Critics have argued that the rule is essentially a newer version of two efforts by President Donald Trump to limit asylum at the southern border. The Supreme Court eventually allowed the Trump administration to limit asylum for people who don’t apply for protection in a country they travel through before coming to the U.S. to go into effect. But another Trump effort to bar people from applying for asylum except at an official border entry point was caught up in litigation and never took effect. 

In announcing the new rule, the Biden administration emphasized the complex dynamics at play when it comes to immigration that at one time consisted largely of adults from Mexico seeking to come to the U.S. They could easily be returned home. Now migrants come from across the Western Hemisphere and beyond.
…

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday raised its 2023 global growth estimates slightly given resilient economic activity in the first quarter, but warned that persistent challenges were dampening the medium-term outlook.

The IMF in its latest World Economic Outlook said inflation was coming down and acute stress in the banking sector had receded, but the balance of risks facing the global economy remained tilted to the downside and credit was tight.

The global lender said it now projected global real GDP growth of 3.0% in 2023, up 0.2 percentage point from its April forecast, but it left its outlook for 2024 unchanged, also at 3.0%.

The 2023-2024 growth forecast remains weak by historical standards, well below the annual average of 3.8% seen in 2000-2019, largely due to weaker manufacturing in advanced economies, and it could stay at that level for years.

“We’re on track, but we’re not out of the woods,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told Reuters in an interview, noting that the upgrade was driven largely by first-quarter results. “What we are seeing when we look five years out is actually close to 3.0%, maybe a little bit above 3.0%. This is a significant slowdown compared to what we had pre-COVID.”

This was also related to the aging of the global population, especially in countries such as China, Germany and Japan, he said. New technologies could boost productivity in coming years, but that in turn could be disruptive to labor markets.

Debt distress could spread

The outlook is “broadly stable” in emerging market and developing economies for 2023-2024, with growth of 4.0% expected in 2023 and 4.1% in 2024, the IMF said. But it noted that credit availability is tight and that there was a risk that debt distress could spread to a wider group of economies.

The world is in a better place now, the IMF said, noting the World Health Organization’s decision to end the global health emergency surrounding COVID-19, and with shipping costs and delivery times now back to pre-pandemic levels.

“But forces that hindered growth in 2022 persist,” the IMF said, citing still-high inflation that was eroding household buying power, higher interest rates that have raised the cost of borrowing and tighter access to credit as a result of the banking strains that emerged in March.

“International trade and indicators of demand and production in manufacturing all point to further weakness,” the IMF said, noting that excess savings built up during the pandemic are declining in advanced economies, especially in the United States, implying “a slimmer buffer to protect against shocks.”

While immediate concerns about the health of the banking sector — which were more acute in April — had subsided, financial sector turbulence could resume as markets adjust to further tightening by central banks, it said.

The impact of higher interest rates was especially evident in poorer countries, driving debt costs higher and limiting room for priority investments. As a result, output losses compared with pre-pandemic forecasts remain large, especially for the world’s poorest nations, the IMF said.

The IMF forecast that global headline inflation would fall to 6.8% in 2023 from 8.7% in 2022, dropping to 5.2% in 2024, but core inflation would decline more gradually, reaching 6.0% in 2023 from 6.5% in 2022 and easing to 4.7% in 2024.

Gourinchas told Reuters it could take until the end of 2024 or early 2025 until inflation came down to central bankers’ targets and the current cycle of monetary tightening would end.

The IMF warned that inflation could rise if the war in Ukraine intensified, citing concern about Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea grain initiative, or if more extreme temperature increases caused by the El Nino weather pattern pushed up commodity prices. That in turn could trigger further rate hikes.

The IMF said world trade growth is declining and will reach just 2.0% in 2023 before rising to 3.7% in 2024, but both growth rates are well below the 5.2% clocked in 2022.

The IMF raised its outlook for the United States, the world’s largest economy, forecasting growth of 1.8% in 2023 versus 1.6% in April as labor markets remained strong.

It left its forecast for growth in China, the world’s second-largest economy, unchanged at 5.2% in 2023 and 4.5% in 2024. But it warned that China’s recovery was underperforming, and a deeper contraction in the real estate sector remained a risk.

The fund cut its outlook for Germany, now forecast to contract 0.3% in 2023 versus a 0.1% contraction in April, but sharply upgraded its forecast for the U.K., now expected to grow 0.4% versus a 0.3% contraction forecast in April.

Euro zone countries are expected to grow 0.9% in 2023 and 1.5% in 2024, both up 0.1 percentage point from April.

Japan’s growth was also revised upward by 0.1 percentage point to 1.4% in 2023, but the IMF left its outlook for 2024 unchanged at 1.0%.

Inflation remains a focus

The rise in central bank policy rates to fight inflation continues to weigh on economic activity, the IMF said, adding that the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England were expected to raise rates by more than assumed in April, before cutting rates next year.

It said central banks should remain focused on fighting inflation, strengthening financial supervision and risk monitoring. If further strains appeared, countries should provide liquidity quickly, it said.

The fund also advised countries to build fiscal buffers to gird for further shocks and ensure support for the most vulnerable. 

“We have to be very vigilant on the health of the financial sector … because we could have something that basically seizes up very quickly,” Gourinchas said. “There is always a risk that if financial conditions tighten, that can have a disproportionate effect on emerging market and developing economies.”

The IMF said unfavorable inflation data could trigger a sudden rise in market expectations regarding interest rates, which could further tighten financial conditions, putting stress on banks and nonbank institutions — especially those exposed to commercial real estate.

“Contagion effects are possible, and a flight to safety, with an attendant appreciation of reserve currencies, would trigger negative ripple effects for global trade and growth,” the IMF said.

Fragmentation of the global economy given the war in Ukraine and other geopolitical tensions remained another key risk, especially for developing economies, Gourinchas said. This could lead to more restrictions on trade, especially in strategic goods such as critical minerals, cross-border movements of capital, technology and workers, and international payments. 
…

A Russian fighter jet flew within a few meters of a U.S. drone over Syria and fired flares at it, striking the American aircraft and damaging it, the U.S. military said Tuesday, the latest in a string of aggressive intercepts by Russia in the region.

A senior Air Force commander said the move on Sunday was an attempt by the Russians to knock the MQ-9 Reaper drone out of the sky and came just a week after a Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to a U.S. surveillance aircraft carrying a crew in the region, jeopardizing the lives of the four Americans on board.

“One of the Russian flares struck the U.S. MQ-9, severely damaging its propeller,” Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, the head of U.S. Air Forces Central, said in a statement describing the latest close call. “We call upon the Russian forces in Syria to put an immediate end to this reckless, unprovoked, and unprofessional behavior.”

Grynkewich said one of the crew members operating the drone remotely kept it in the air and flew it back to its home base.

The Sunday incident is the latest in a series of encounters between Russian fighter jets and U.S. aircraft flying over Syria. In all but the one instance a week ago, the U.S. aircraft were MQ-9 drones without crew members. On that Sunday, however, the Russian Su-35 jet few close to a U.S. MC-12 surveillance aircraft with a crew, forcing it to go through the turbulent wake.

U.S. officials at the time called it a significant escalation in the ongoing string of encounters between U.S. and Russian aircraft that could have resulted in an accident or loss of life. They said the Russian move hampered the crew members’ ability to safely operate their plane.

In recent weeks, U.S. officials said, Russian fighter jets have repeatedly harassed U.S. MQ-9 drones, which are conducting anti-Islamic State group missions, largely in western Syria.

On multiple occasions in the past three weeks, the officials said, Russian fighter jets flew dangerously close to the U.S. Reapers, setting off flares and forcing the drones to take evasive maneuvers.

U.S. and Russian military officers communicate frequently over a deconfliction phone line during the encounters, protesting the other side’s actions.

There are about 900 U.S. forces in Syria, and others move in and out to conduct missions targeting Islamic State group militants.
…

President Joe Biden is set to designate a new national monument on Tuesday memorializing the brutal 1950s lynching of Emmett Till, with the White House framing the symbolic act as part of a fight against resurgent racism.   

The monument, sited in several locations, will remember the 14-year-old Black boy tortured and murdered by white men in 1955 after he allegedly whistled at a white shopkeeper’s wife in Mississippi. 

His mother Mamie Till-Mobley, also honored in the memorial, became an activist, and is widely viewed as having helped to spark the U.S. civil rights movement. 

“The new monument will protect places that tell the story of Emmett Till’s too-short life and racially-motivated murder, the unjust acquittal of his murderers, and the activism of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who courageously brought the world’s attention to the brutal injustices and racism of the time, catalyzing the civil rights movement,” the White House said.   

The memorial signing by Biden — on the 82nd anniversary of Till’s birth — will designate three historic sites in Illinois and Mississippi. 

One of them will be the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, where Till’s mother insisted at her son’s funeral that the casket remain open, allowing a huge crowd to see the boy’s disfigured body. 

Another will be the Tallahatchie, Mississippi courthouse where an all-white jury found the men accused of murdering Till not guilty. They would later admit to the crime. 

The third location will be the spot on the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi where Till’s battered body was eventually discovered. Signs commemorating the brutal event there and in other locations around Tallahatchie County have repeatedly been defaced and vandalized over the years. 

Biden’s high-profile treatment for a painful piece of 20th century U.S. history is playing out against a backdrop of accusations that a leading Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential race is openly stirring racist sentiment. 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has led a charge to minimize the history of past racism in his state’s school curriculum, making this part of a broader campaign against what he describes as the “virus” of “woke” left-wing values. 

Responding to an outcry over what has been described as an attempt to rewrite history, DeSantis last week doubled down, saying that slavery even had benefits. 

“They’re probably going to show that some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life,” DeSantis said Friday. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described DeSantis’s comment as “inaccurate” and “insulting.” 

“It’s hurtful and prevents an honest account, an honest account of our nation’s history,” she said. 

Jean-Pierre, who is Black, said the Emmett Till monument was part of “the broader story of American Black oppression, their survival.” 

“It’s an important moment. You’re going to hear directly from the president tomorrow,” she said.
…

Amid the ongoing culture wars over LGBTQ rights, the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, is rediscovering the history of a deadly arson attack that took place 50 years ago.

The attack was largely forgotten in part because it happened at a local gay bar, but memorial events taking place in the Southern city, as well as virtual events open to the public like this one hosted between the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana and the American LGBTQ+ Museum, are introducing a new generation to the tragedy and its victims.

Ricky Everett was one of the survivors of the June 24, 1973, fire.

“I’d carried a lot of pain for a very long time,” he told VOA. “I saw so many people, my friends, burn alive that night. And for decades we weren’t able to talk about it.”

Before the events of that Sunday in 1973, Everett attended services at Metropolitan Community Church, which was one of the first pro-LGBTQ Christian fellowships. He and other congregants then headed to the UpStairs Lounge on Iberville Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter for a beer.

“It was just a really nice, clean, friendly place,” he recalled. “People from all walks of life were there. Professionals like doctors and lawyers all the way down to people having a little tougher time. Black people, white people. Gay people, lesbians, and straight people and heterosexual couples, too.”

“Everyone just got along,” he added. “People came to the UpStairs Lounge to laugh together, dance together, sing together. It was special.”

That evening was a lively one at the second-floor bar thanks to a weekend beer special. At 7:56 p.m., bartender Buddy Rasmussen heard a buzzer that usually meant a taxi was waiting downstairs. Rasmussen sent a regular patron to check, and when the door opened, flames shot up the stairwell into the crowded bar.

“I was at a table with my friends when all of a sudden I saw a bright glow shoot straight across the room,” Everett told VOA. “It was chaos, but I just froze.”

Rasmussen jumped over the bar and yanked Everett by the arm. He yelled for people to follow him through a back exit to the roof where they could cross to the next building.

When Everett saw that one of his friends was not with them, however, he says he ran back in.

“There were dozens of people who didn’t come out with us, but when I entered the bar again, there was no movement. No sound,” Everett said. “Just flames swirling everywhere.”

“I should have been one of the people who died there that night,” he said. “But God saved me. Proof He loved gay people, too.”

‘Bigotry, nonsense and homophobia’

Thirty-two people would perish that night in what was the largest attack on the gay community before the 2016 shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

“When I began researching the fire, I thought I was looking into an anti-gay hate crime,” Robert W. Fieseler, author of “Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation,” told VOA ahead of Tuesday’s virtual panel discussion, which he is attending.

It turns out it was far more nuanced. While the case remains open, the man generally believed to be the prime suspect, Roger Nunez, was bisexual with a history of mental illness and was involved in a confrontation at the UpStairs Lounge earlier that night. Nunez committed suicide a year later.

“This wasn’t a hate crime,” Fieseler said, “but the response by the police, the media, and the city certainly was clouded by bigotry, nonsense and homophobia.”

New Orleans institutions suppressed news of the attack, particularly that its target was a gay bar. Some of the victims’ families were ashamed to claim their bodies. Local talk show hosts and police officers openly mocked the victims’ sexuality. Even the LGBTQ community was mostly quiet, not wanting to draw more negative attention.

World War II veteran Ferris LeBlanc died in the fire, and Fieseler believes what happened to his remains is just one poignant example of the authorities’ mishandling of their response to the attack.

“This man was an American hero, and he deserved to be buried with the same honors others who served had,” Fieseler said. “Instead, in its haste to brush the tragedy under the rug, the city didn’t make adequate efforts to find his family. They left his remains in a potter’s field — it looks like a cow pasture. His family is still trying to find him.”

Years later, an apology

In recent years, however, more New Orleanians have rediscovered the arson and its victims. Attitudes have also changed. The New Orleans City Council issued an apology last year for its actions at the time of the fire.

Choreographer Monica Ordonez says a friend introduced her to the UpStairs Lounge fire, “and not only had I never heard about it, but nobody else I knew had either.”

“How could so few people know about this? It’s one of the most important events for the gay community in the 20th century,” she added. “I wanted people to know — about the fire, but also about the beautiful souls we lost that day.”

Ordonez is artistic director of the Melange Dance Company. On the 50th anniversary of the fire, the dance company staged New Orleans Museum of Art performances of “The UpStairs Lounge,” depicting the events of that night.

Additionally, the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana worked with several organizations this year to host a series of memorial events for the anniversary, attracting more than 1,000 attendees.

Among them was Reverend Paul Breton of California, who was first called to New Orleans in the days after the fire to help the survivors and victims’ families cope with their loss. Those efforts were in large part left unfinished then, but Breton believes the 50th anniversary events and the discussions it has raised help.

“We recalled each of the 32 victims who died,” Breton said of the memorial service. “Their names deserve to be remembered, and it brought back so many memories from 50 years ago.”

Everett, too, is finally feeling relief.

“Remembering and talking about it — that’s healing,” he said. “It’s like counseling. And I hope the other survivors are able to start finding healing through memory, as well.”
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The Justice Department on Monday sued Texas Govenor Greg Abbott over a newly installed floating barrier on the Rio Grande that is the Republican’s latest tactic to try stopping migrants from crossing into the U.S. from Mexico.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge in Austin to force Texas to remove a roughly 1,000-foot (305-meter) line of bright orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys that the Biden administration says raises humanitarian and environmental concerns. The suit claims that Texas unlawfully installed the barrier without permission between the border cities of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico.

The buoys are the latest escalation of Texas’ border security operation that also includes razor-wire fencing, arresting migrants on trespassing charges and sending busloads of asylum-seekers to Democratic-led cities in other states. Critics have long called into question the effectiveness of the two-year operation, known as Operation Lone Star, and a state trooper’s account this month of measures injuring migrants has put the mission under intensifying new scrutiny.

In anticipation of the lawsuit, Abbott sent President Joe Biden a letter earlier Monday that defended Texas’ right to install the barrier. He accused Biden of putting migrants at risk by not doing more to deter them from making the journey to the U.S.

“Texas will see you in court, Mr. President,” Abbott wrote.

The Biden administration has said illegal border crossings have declined significantly since new immigration restrictions took effect in May. In June, the first full month since the new polices took effect, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said migrant encounters were down 30% from the month prior and were at the lowest levels since Biden’s first full month in office.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Abbott’s policies, as a whole, have made it difficult for U.S. Border Patrol agents to access the Rio Grande.

“Those are unlawful actions that are not helpful and is undermining what the president has put forward and is trying to do,” she said.

In a letter last week, the Justice Department gave Texas until Monday to commit to removing the barrier or face a lawsuit. The letter said the buoy wall “poses a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River, and it presents humanitarian concerns.”

The state deployed the buoys without notifying the International Boundary and Water Commission or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mexico’s secretary of state asked the federal government to intervene, saying the barrier violates international treaties.

The lawsuit is not the first time the Biden administration has sued Texas overs it actions on the border.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2021 accused the state of usurping and even interfering with the federal government’s responsibility to enforce immigration laws after Abbott empowered state troopers to stop vehicles carrying migrants on the basis that they could increase the spread of COVID-19.
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For decades, the Danny Woo Community Garden in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District has provided a sense of home for elderly Asian immigrants. The largest event at the garden is the Annual Pig Roast – a tradition since 1975. Natasha Mozgovaya has more.
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Comic books have often been about tackling social issues and protecting the underdog. That may be why they are attracting a wide variety of unique voices, from comic creators to cosplayers. Genia Dulot reports from Comic-Con 2023 in San Diego, California.
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Jonas King from Brooklyn, New York is among a new group of designers who focus on revitalizing pre-owned garments and textiles. As Nina Vishneva reports, King takes someone’s trash and turns it into custom pieces. Anna Rice narrates the story. (Camera: Vladimir Badikov)
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North Korea is one of the most closed-off countries, especially to foreign media. But for Jean Lee, the first American news bureau chief in Pyongyang, years of reporting from inside the country have helped her and her audiences better understand the nation. For VOA, Liam Scott has more from Washington in this story narrated by Steve Karesh. VOA footage by Cristina Caicedo Smit and Phillip Datcher.
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The deputy commander of the U.N. Command said Monday it has started conversations with North Korea over an American soldier who ran into the North last week across the Koreas’ heavily armed border. 

General Andrew Harrison said the process has started through communications line set under the armistice agreement that stopped the fighting of the 1950-53 Korean War. He said the well-being of Private Travis King remains the command’s primary concern, but refused to provide more details, citing the sensitivity of the discussions. 

North Korea has remained publicly silent about King, who crossed the border last Tuesday while he was supposed to be heading to Fort Bliss, Texas. 

U.S. officials have expressed concern about his well-being and said North Korea was ignoring their requests for information about him. 

Analysts say North Korea could wait weeks or even months to provide meaningful information about King to maximize leverage and add urgency to U.S. efforts to secure his release.  

Some say North Korea may try to wrest concessions from Washington, such as tying his release to the United States cutting back its military activities with South Korea. 
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A nuclear-propelled U.S. submarine has arrived in South Korea in the second deployment of a major U.S. naval asset to the Korean Peninsula this month, South Korea’s military said Monday, adding to the allies’ show of force to counter North Korean nuclear threats. 

The USS Annapolis arrived at a port on Jeju Island about a week after the USS Kentucky docked at the mainland port of Busan. 

The Kentucky was the first U.S. nuclear-armed submarine to come to South Korea since the 1980s. North Korea reacted to its arrival by test-firing ballistic and cruise missiles in apparent demonstrations that it could make nuclear strikes against South Korea and deployed U.S. naval vessels. 

In between those launches, North Korea’s defense minister issued a veiled threat insisting the Kentucky’s docking in South Korea could be grounds for the North to use a nuclear weapon against it. North Korea has used similar rhetoric before, but the statement underscored how much relations are strained now. 

The Annapolis, whose main mission is destroying enemy ships and submarines, is powered by a nuclear reactor but is armed with conventional weapons. The Annapolis mainly docked at Jeju to load supplies, but Jang Do Young, a spokesperson of South Korea’s navy, said the U.S. and South Korean militaries were discussing whether to arrange training involving the vessel. 

Meanwhile, North Korea remained publicly silent on an American soldier, Private Travis King, who crossed the border last Tuesday. U.S. officials have expressed concern about his well-being and said North Korea has been ignoring their requests to provide basic information about King, including where he’s being detained and what his condition is. 

Analysts say North Korea wait weeks or even months to provide meaningful information about King to maximize leverage and add urgency to U.S. efforts to secure his release. Some say North Korea may try to wrest concessions from Washington, such as tying his release to the United States cutting back its military activities with South Korea. 

The United States and South Korea have been expanding their combined military exercises and increasing regional deployments of U.S. strategic assets bombers, aircraft carriers and submarines in a show of force against North Korea, which has test-fired around 100 missiles since the start of 2022. 
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“Barbenheimer” didn’t just work – it spun box office gold. The social media-fueled fusion of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” brought moviegoers back to the theaters in record numbers this weekend, vastly outperforming projections and giving a glimmer of hope to the lagging exhibition business, amid the sobering backdrop of strikes.

Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” claimed the top spot with a massive $155 million in ticket sales from North American theaters from 4,243 locations, surpassing “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (as well as every Marvel movie this year) as the biggest opening of the year and breaking the first weekend record for a film directed by a woman. Universal’s “Oppenheimer” also soared past expectations, taking in $80.5 million from 3,610 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, marking Nolan’s biggest non-Batman debut and one of the best-ever starts for an R-rated biographical drama.

It’s also the first time that one movie opened to more than $100 million and another movie opened to more than $80 million in the same weekend. When all is settled, it will likely turn out to be the fourth biggest box office weekend of all time with over $300 million industrywide. And all this in a marketplace that increasingly curved toward intellectual property-driven winner takes all.

The “Barbenheimer” phenomenon may have started out as good-natured competition between two aesthetic opposites, but, as many hoped, both movies benefited in the end. Internationally, “Barbie” earned $182 million from 69 territories, fueling a $337 million global weekend. “Oppenheimer” did $93.7 million from 78 territories, ranking above “Barbie” in India, for a $174.2 million global total.

The only real casualty was “Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I,” which despite strong reviews and a healthy opening weekend fell 64% in weekend two. Overshadowed by the “Barbenheimer” glow as well as the blow of losing its IMAX screens to “Oppenheimer,” the Tom Cruise vehicle added $19.5 million, bringing its domestic total to $118.8 million.

“Barbenheimer” is not merely counterprogramming either. But while a certain section of enthusiastic moviegoers overlapped, in aggregate the audiences were distinct.

Women drove the historic “Barbie” opening, making up 65% of the audience, according to PostTrak, and 40% of ticket buyers were under the age of 25 for the PG-13 rated movie.

“It’s just a joyous time in the world. This is history in so many ways,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros.’ president of domestic distribution. “I think this marketing campaign is one for the ages that people will be talking about forever.”

“Oppenheimer” audiences meanwhile were 62% male and 63% over the age of 25, with a somewhat surprising 32% that were between the ages of 18 and 24.

Both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” scored well with critics with 90% and 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively, and audiences who gave both films an A CinemaScore. And social media has been awash with reactions and “takes” all weekend – good, bad, problematic and everywhere in between – the kind of organic, event cinema, watercooler debate that no marketing budget can buy.

“The ‘Barbenheimer’ thing was a real boost for both movies,” Goldstein said. “It is a crowning achievement for all of us.”

“Oppenheimer” had the vast majority (80%) of premium large format screens at its disposal. Some 25 theaters in North America boasted IMAX 70mm screenings (Nolan’s preferred format), most of which were completely sold out all weekend — accounting for 2% of the total gross. Theaters even scrambled to add more to accommodate the demand including 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. screenings, which also sold out.

“Nolan’s films are truly cinematic events,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution.

IMAX showings alone made up 26% of the domestic gross (or $21.1 million) from only 411 screens and 20% of the global gross, and “Oppenheimer” will have at least a three-week run on those high-demand screens.

“This is a phenomenon beyond compare,” said Rich Gelfond, the CEO of IMAX, in a statement. “Around the world, we’ve seen sellouts at 4:00 a.m. shows and people travelling hours across borders to see ‘Oppenheimer’ in IMAX 70mm.”

This is the comeback weekend Hollywood has been dreaming of since the pandemic. There have been big openings and successes – “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Avatar: The Way of Water” among them, but the fact that two movies are succeeding at the same time is notable.

“It was a truly historic weekend and continues the positive box office momentum of 2023,” said Michael O’Leary, President & CEO of the National Association of Theater Owners. “People recognized that something special was happening and they wanted to be a part of it.”

And yet in the background looms disaster as Hollywood studios continue to squabble with striking actors and writers over a fair contract.

“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” were the last films on the 2023 calendar to get a massive, global press tour. Both went right up to the 11th hour, squeezing in every last moment with their movie stars. “Oppenheimer” even pushed up its London premiere by an hour, knowing that Emily Blunt, Matt Damon and Cillian Murphy would have to leave to symbolically join the picket lines by the time the movie began.

Without movie stars to promote their films, studios have started pushing some falls releases, including the high-profile Zendaya tennis drama “Challengers.”

But for now, it’s simply a positive story that could even continue for weeks to come.

“There could be a sequel next weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “The FOMO factor will rachet up because of this monumental box office event centered around the movie theater experience.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Barbie,” $155 million.

2. “Oppenheimer,” $80.5 million.

3. “Sound of Freedom,” $20.1 million.

4. “Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part I,” $19.5 million.

5. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” $6.7 million.

6. “Insidious: The Red Door,” $6.5 million.

7. “Elemental,” $5.8 million.

8. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” $2.8 million.

9. “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” 1.1 million.

10. “No Hard Feelings,” $1.1 million.
    …

U.S. golfer Brian Harman won the British Open on Sunday, easily fending off four other golfers by six shots to capture his first major championship.

Harman, the 26th-ranked player in the world, grabbed the lead in the year’s last major championship at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England, after Friday’s second round in the four-day tournament and never relinquished it.

British golf fans cheered for other players in hopes they could catch the 36-year-old, left-handed player and shouted some taunts at him that Harman said were “unrepeatable.”

But with other players unable to cut into his lead in a steady rain, Harman finally won cheers Sunday as he sank a 12-meter putt for a birdie on the par-4-14th hole and a shorter putt for another birdie on the par-5 15th.

He finished the 72-hole tournament at 271, 13 under par and 6 shots ahead of South Korea’s Tom Kim, Austria’s Sepp Straka, Australia’s Jason Day and Spain’s Jon Rahm.

It was Harman’s first victory on the professional golf circuit since 2017. He collected $3 million for the win, and the tournament’s ornate Claret Jug.
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Elon Musk said Sunday that he plans to change the logo of Twitter to an “X” from the bird, marking what would be the latest big change since he bought the social media platform for $44 billion last year. 

In a series of posts on his Twitter account starting just after 12 a.m. ET, Twitter’s owner said that he’s looking to make the change worldwide as soon as Monday. 

“And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” Musk wrote on his account. 

Earlier this month, Musk put new curfews on his digital town square, a move that came under sharp criticism that it could drive away advertisers and undermine its cultural influence as a trendsetter. 

In May, Musk hired longtime NBC Universal executive Linda Yaccarino as Twitter’s CEO in a move to win back advertisers. 

Luring advertisers is essential for Musk and Twitter after many fled in the early months after his takeover of the social media platform, fearing damage to their brands in the ensuing chaos. Musk said in late April that advertisers had returned, but provided no specifics. 

 
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — 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.

“The corals are pale, it looks like the color’s draining out,” said Lesneski, who has spent several days on the reefs over the last two weeks. “And some individuals are stark white. And we still have more to come.

Scientists with NOAA this week raised their coral bleaching warning system to Alert Level 2 for the Keys, their highest heat stress level out of five. That level is reached when the average water surface temperature is about 1 degree Celsius) above the normal maximum for eight straight weeks.

Surface temperatures around the Keys have been averaging about 33 Celsius, well above the normal mid-July average of 29.5 Celsius, said Jacqueline De La Cour, operations manager for NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch program. Previous Alert Level 2s were reached in August, she said.

Coral reefs are made up of tiny organisms that link together. The reefs get their color from the algae that live inside them and are the corals’ food. When temperatures get too high, the coral expels the algae, making the reefs appear white or bleached. That doesn’t mean they are dead, but the corals can starve and are more susceptible to disease.

Andrew Bruckner, research coordinator at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, said some coral reefs began showing the first signs of bleaching two weeks ago. Then in the last few days, some reefs lost all their color. That had never been recorded before Aug. 1. The peak for bleaching typically happens in late August or September.

“We are at least a month ahead of time, if not two months,” Bruckner said. “We’re not yet at the point where we are seeing any mortality … from bleaching. It is still a minor number that are completely white, certain species, but it is much sooner than we expected.”

Still, forecasting what will happen the rest of the summer is hard, De La Cour and Bruckner said. While water temperatures could continue to spike — which could be devastating — a tropical storm or hurricane could churn the water and cool it down. Dusty air from the Sahara Desert moving across the Atlantic and settling over Florida could dampen the sun’s rays, lowering temperatures.

Because of climate change and other factors, the Keys waters have lost 80% to 90% of their coral over the last 50 years, Bruckner said. That affects not only marine life that depends on the reefs for survival, but also people — coral reefs are a natural buffer against storm surge from hurricanes and other storms. There is also an economic impact because tourism from fishing, scuba diving and snorkeling is heavily dependent on coral reefs.

“People get in the water, let’s fish, let’s dive — that’s why protecting Florida’s coral reef is so critical,” De La Cour said.

Both scientists said it is not “all doom and gloom.” A 20-year, large-scale effort is under way to rebuild Florida’s coral back to about 90% of where it was 50 years ago. Bruckner said scientists are breeding corals that can better withstand the heat and are using simple things like shade covers and underwater fans to cool the water to help them survive.

“We are looking for answers and we are trying to do something, rather than just looking away,” Bruckner said.

Breeding corals can encourage heat resistance in future generations of the animals, said Jason Spadaro, coral reef restoration program manager for Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida. That could be vital to saving them, he said.

Spadaro and others who have visited the corals said they have noticed the coral bleaching is worse in the lower Keys than in the more northern parts of the area. The Keys have experienced bad bleaching years in the past, but this year it is “really aggressive and it’s really persistent,” he said.

“It’s going to be a rough year for the reef. It hammers home the need to continue this important work,” he said.

The early bleaching is happening during a year when water temperatures are spiking earlier than normal, said Ross Cunning, a research biologist at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. The Keys are experiencing water temperatures above 32 degrees Celsius, which would normally not occur until August or September, he said.

The hot water could lead to a “disastrous bleaching event” if it does not wane, Cunning said.

“We’re seeing temperatures now that are even higher than what we normally see at peak, which is what makes this particularly scary,” Cunning said.

De La Cour said she has no doubt that the warming waters are caused by human-made global warming and that needs to be fixed for coral to survive.

“If we do not reduce the greenhouse gas emissions we are emitting and don’t reduce the greenhouse gases that are already in the atmosphere, we are creating a world where coral reefs cannot exist, no matter what we do,” she said.
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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will establish a national monument honoring Emmett Till, the Black teenager from Chicago who was abducted, tortured and killed in 1955 after he was accused of whistling at a white woman in Mississippi, and his mother, a White House official said Saturday.

Biden will sign a proclamation on Tuesday to create the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument across three sites in Illinois and Mississippi, according to the official. The individual spoke on condition of anonymity because the White House had not formally announced the president’s plans.

Tuesday is the anniversary of Emmett Till’s birth in 1941.

The monument will protect places that are central to the story of Till’s life and death at age 14, the acquittal of his white killers and his mother’s activism. Till’s mother’s insistence on an open casket to show the world how her son had been brutalized and Jet’s magazine’s decision to publish photos of his mutilated body helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement.

Biden’s decision also comes at a fraught time in the United States over matters concerning race. Conservative leaders are pushing back against the teaching of slavery and Black history in public schools, as well as the incorporation of diversity, equity and inclusion programs from college classrooms to corporate boardrooms.

On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris criticized a revised Black history curriculum in Florida that includes teaching that enslaved people benefited from the skills they learned at the hands of the people who denied them freedom. The Florida Board of Education approved the curriculum to satisfy legislation signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate who has accused public schools of liberal indoctrination.

“How is it that anyone could suggest that in the midst of these atrocities that there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization?” Harris asked in a speech delivered from Jacksonville, Florida.

DeSantis said he had no role in devising his state’s new education standards but defended the components on how enslaved people benefited.

“All of that is rooted in whatever is factual,” he said in response.

The monument to Till and his mother will include three sites in the two states.

The Illinois site is Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Bronzeville, a historically Black neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. Thousands of people gathered at the church to mourn Emmett Till in September 1955.

The Mississippi locations are Graball Landing, believed to be where Till’s mutilated body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, and the Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, where Till’s killers were tried and acquitted by an all-white jury.

Till was visiting relatives in Mississippi when Carolyn Bryant Donham said the 14-year-old Till whistled and made sexual advances at her while she worked in a store in the small community of Money.

Till was later abducted and his body eventually pulled from the Tallahatchie River, where he had been tossed after he was shot and weighted down with a cotton gin fan.

Two white men, Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam, were tried on murder charges about a month after Till was killed, but an all-white Mississippi jury acquitted them. Months later, they confessed to killing Till in a paid interview with Look magazine. Bryant was married to Donham in 1955. She died earlier this year.

The monument will be the fourth Biden has created since taking office in 2021, and just his latest tribute to the younger Till.

For Black History Month this year, Biden hosted a screening of the movie Till, a drama about his lynching.

In March 2022, Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act into law. Congress had first considered such legislation more than 120 years ago.

The Justice Department announced in December 2021 that it was closing its investigation into Till’s killing.
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The heaviest rain to hit the Atlantic Canadian province of Nova Scotia in more than 50 years triggered floods causing “unimaginable” damage, and four people are missing, including two children, officials said Saturday.

The storm, which started Friday, dumped more than 25 cm (10 inches) on some parts of the province in just 24 hours — an amount that usually lands in three months. The resulting floods washed away roads, weakened bridges and swamped buildings.

“We have a scary, significant situation,” said Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, adding that at least seven bridges would have to be replaced or rebuilt.

“The property damage to homes … is pretty unimaginable,” he told a news conference. Houston said the province would be seeking significant support from the federal government.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Toronto he was very concerned about the floods and promised that Ottawa “will be there” for the province.

The flooding was the latest weather-related calamity to pound Canada this year. Wildfires have already burned a record number of hectares, sending clouds of smoke into the United States. Earlier this month, heavy rains also caused floods in several northeastern U.S. states.

Authorities have declared a state of emergency in Halifax, the largest city in Nova Scotia, and four other regions.

The regional municipality in Halifax reported “significant damage to roads and infrastructure” and urged people to stay at home and not use their cars.

Pictures posted on social media from Halifax showed abandoned cars almost covered with flood waters and rescue workers using boats to save people.

Houston, citing police, said two children were missing after the car they were in was submerged. In another incident, a man and a youth were missing after their car drove into deep water.

At one point, more than 80,000 people were without power.

Environment Canada is predicting torrential rain in the eastern part of the province, continuing into Sunday.

“People should not assume that everything is over. This is a very dynamic situation,” Halifax Mayor Mike Savage told the press conference, saying the city had been hit by “biblical proportions of rain.”

Canadian Broadcasting Corp meteorologist Ryan Snoddon said the Halifax rains were the heaviest since a hurricane hit the city in 1971.

Early on Saturday, authorities in northern Nova Scotia ordered residents to evacuate amid fears that a dam near the St. Croix River system could breach. They later canceled the evacuation order.
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