5 things to know for July 24: Biden speech, Secret Service, Nepal plane crash, Russian troops, Climate change
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Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. President Joe Biden will deliver a rare Oval Office speech at 8 p.m. ET today on his decision to drop out of the 2024 race. It will be the first time the country hears from the president extensively since his abrupt decision to exit the presidential race on Sunday. Biden, who had been isolating at his home in Delaware since testing positive for Covid-19 nearly a week ago, tested negative on Tuesday, according to his physician, and is expected to return to the White House later in the day. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the first rally of her 2024 presidential campaign, told supporters in Wisconsin Tuesday that she will spend the coming weeks “continuing to unite our party” ahead of the Democratic National Convention in August. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday amid scrutiny of security lapses related to the recent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump. She acknowledged that on July 13, the day of the shooting at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally, the agency “fell short” of its mission “to protect our nation’s leaders.” There have been bipartisan calls in Congress for Cheatle’s resignation and a push by some Republicans to impeach her. Lawmakers were particularly incensed after her appearance in front of the House Oversight Committee on Monday, where she was unwilling to answer many of the committee’s questions. An extensive investigation is underway as authorities try to piece together details to uncover the shooter’s motive. At least 18 people were killed after a small plane skidded off the runway in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu today, local officials said. The pilot, who has been hospitalized, is the sole survivor of the Saurya Airlines crash. All of the passengers on board —18 Nepalis and a Yemeni citizen — were employees of the carrier, according to police. The aircraft crashed during takeoff from Kathmandu to the city of Pokhara and was en route for technical maintenance, an airline spokesperson said. The crash once again highlights the dangers of air travel in Nepal, a country often referred to as one of the riskiest places to fly due to multiple factors, including its mountainous terrain. Russia is offering Moscow residents a record $22,000 to fight in Ukraine as President Vladimir Putin scrambles to boost his troop numbers. The one-time signing bonus comes as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine grinds on in its third year. While Russia’s casualty figures remain shrouded in secrecy, estimates say the death toll among troops is high. More than 70,000 soldiers were likely killed or wounded in May and June alone, the UK Defense Ministry said. It is estimated that Russia has lost around 87% of the active-duty ground troops it had prior to launching its invasion of Ukraine and two-thirds of its pre-invasion tanks, a source familiar with a declassified US intelligence assessment told CNN in December. Sunday was the hottest day in recorded history, according to a climate tracking agency that has monitored temperatures since the mid-1900s. Around a hundred cities across the US are experiencing their hottest start to summer on record and swaths of southern Europe have been grappling with triple-digit temperatures. Global average temperatures typically peak during the Northern Hemisphere summer, between late June and early August. They also fluctuate based on natural factors: seasons, large-scale climate patterns and solar activity — and on unnatural factors: the pollution from human activity, including the burning of fossil fuels, which is chiefly driving the planet’s temperature steadily upward.
FBI says it has disrupted major Chinese hacking operation that threatened US critical infrastructure
The FBI has used a court order to seize control of a network of hundreds of thousands of hacked internet routers and other devices that Chinese government-linked hackers were using to threaten critical infrastructure in the US and overseas, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday.
The Federal Reserve is preparing to cut interest rates for the first time in the Biden era after the White House spent the last three years grappling with Americans’ dissatisfaction with the cost of living, raising new questions about the health of the economy and the impact on voters at the ballot box.
Israeli officials notified the US that the country was going to carry out an operation in Lebanon on Tuesday but did not give any details about what they were planning, according to three sources familiar with the matter, including in a call between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant early Tuesday morning.