AP News in Brief at 12:03 a.m. EDT
Global COVID-19 deaths hit 4 million amid rush to vaccinate
The global death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 4 million Wednesday as the crisis increasingly becomes a race between the vaccine and the highly contagious delta variant.
The tally of lives lost over the past year and a half, as compiled from official sources by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the number of people killed in battle in all of the world's wars since 1982, according to estimates from the Peace Research Institute Oslo.
The toll is three times the number of people killed in traffic accidents around the globe every year. It is about equal to the population of Los Angeles or the nation of Georgia. It is equivalent to more than half of Hong Kong or close to 50% of New York City.
Even then, it is widely believed to be an undercount because of overlooked cases or deliberate concealment.
With the advent of the vaccine, deaths per day have plummeted to around 7,900, after topping out at over 18,000 a day in January.
___
Haiti's future uncertain after brazen slaying of president
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - An already struggling and chaotic Haiti stumbled into an uncertain future Thursday, reeling from the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse followed by a reported gunbattle in which authorities said police killed four suspects in the murder, detained two others and freed three officers being held hostage.
Officials pledged to find all those responsible for the predawn raid on Moïse´s house early Wednesday that left the president shot to death and his wife, Martine Moïse, critically wounded. She was flown to Miami for treatment.
"The pursuit of the mercenaries continues," Léon Charles, director of Haiti´s National Police, said Wednesday night in announcing the arrests of suspects. "Their fate is fixed: They will fall in the fighting or will be arrested."
Officials did not provide any details on the suspects, including their ages, names or nationalities, nor did they address a motive or what led police to the suspects. They said only that the attack condemned by Haiti's main opposition parties and the international community was carried out by "a highly trained and heavily armed group" whose members spoke Spanish or English.
Prime Minister Claude Joseph assumed leadership of Haiti with help of police and the military and decreed a two-week state of siege following Moïse's killing, which stunned a nation grappling with some of the Western Hemisphere´s highest poverty, violence and political instability.
___
Crews give up hope of finding survivors at collapse site
SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) - Emergency workers gave up Wednesday on any hope of finding survivors in the collapsed Florida condo building, telling sobbing families that there was "no chance of life" in the rubble as crews shifted their efforts to recovering more remains.
The announcement followed increasingly somber reports from emergency officials, who said they sought to prepare families for the worst.
"At this point, we have truly exhausted every option available to us in the search-and-rescue mission," Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference.
"We have all asked God for a miracle, so the decision to transition from rescue to recovery is an extremely difficult one," she said.
Eight more bodies were recovered Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 54, the mayor said. Thirty-three of the dead have been identified, and 86 people are still unaccounted for.
___
Study: Northwest heat wave impossible without climate change
The deadly heat wave that roasted the Pacific Northwest and western Canada was virtually impossible without human-caused climate change that added a few extra degrees to the record-smashing temperatures, a new quick scientific analysis found.
An international team of 27 scientists calculated that climate change increased chances of the extreme heat occurring by at least 150 times, but likely much more.
The study, not yet peer reviewed, said that before the industrial era, the region's late June triple-digit heat was the type that would not have happened in human civilization. And even in today´s warming world, it said, the heat was a once-in-a-millennium event.
But that once-in-a-millennium event would likely occur every five to 10 years once the world warms another 1.4 degrees (0.8 degrees Celsius), said Wednesday's study from World Weather Attribution. That much warming could be 40 or 50 years away if carbon pollution continues at its current pace, one study author said.
This type of extreme heat "would go from essentially virtually impossible to relatively commonplace," said study co-author Gabriel Vecchi, a Princeton University climate scientist. "That is a huge change."
___
Lightning strikes twice: Tampa Bay repeats as Cup champion
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Tampa Bay Lightning players surrounded the Stanley Cup again, putting their hands all over the trophy they won for the second time in 10 months.
It was a familiar sight for the NHL's back-to-back champions, even if it was different in every possible way.
After the Lightning beat the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 on Wednesday night to wrap up the final in five games, captain Steven Stamkos hoisted the Cup in front of 18,110 fans - 18,110 more than the last time he did back in September.
Pyrotechnics went off around him to celebrate not only Tampa Bay winning during a pandemic once again but the end of another grueling season played against the backdrops of protocols and restrictions. Stamkos took another lap with the Cup, players held up their phones to capture video of the fans and confetti fell from the rafters.
Instead of presenting the Cup to the captain to take it back to his teammates, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman invited the Lightning to again surround the trophy, like they did in the bubble. Only this was not the bubble.
___
Black students, faculty: UNC needs self-examination on race
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - When the University of North Carolina first declined to vote on granting tenure to journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, kicking off a protracted battle marked by allegations of racism and conservative backlash over her work examining the legacy of slavery, Black students and faculty at UNC saw yet another example of the institution's failure to welcome and support scholars and students of color.
For years, Black students and faculty at UNC have expressed frustration with the way they are treated, from disproportionate scrutiny by campus police to the dearth of Black professors and staff. Without meaningful self-examination and change, they said, UNC risks its ability to recruit and retain students and faculty of color and continues to alienate its Black community.
"Right now, the relationship between the University of North Carolina and its Black students, faculty and staff is broken," said Jaci Field, advocacy committee co-chair of the Carolina Black Caucus, a faculty group. "But have no fear. You belong. This is your home, too."
UNC's Black student and faculty groups presented a list of demands to the institution at a news conference Wednesday. Many centered on eliminating structural barriers Black students face, such as formalizing access to resources that many only learn about through word of mouth. The groups also urged the university to hire Black counselors and support staff in offices that work with students.
"It is hypocritical for this university to claim that Black lives matter, while disregarding the pain they have caused their own Black students and faculty," said Julia Clark, vice president of the Black Student Movement.
___
Adams' win in NYC latest in surge for moderate Democrats
NEW YORK (AP) - The triumph of a moderate Democrat in the mayoral primary in deep blue New York City appears to accelerate a recent trend of some of the party´s most fervent voters breaking away from its most progressive candidates.
Eric Adams, a former New York Police Department captain, this week became his party´s nominee to lead the nation´s largest city after making a centerpiece of his campaign his rejection of left-leaning activists' calls to defund the police.
His win comes on the heels of victories by self-styled pragmatic candidates in relatively low-turnout elections - which tend to draw the most loyal base voters - in races for a U.S. House seat in New Mexico, a congressional primary in Louisiana and a gubernatorial primary in Virginia.
And those successes come a year after President Joe Biden defeated more liberal opponents to capture his party´s nomination on his way to winning the White House.
It all raises questions as to the best candidates and approaches for Democrats trying to hold on to slim majorities in Congress next year and make inroads in Republican-dominated state legislatures.
___
South Africa's ex-leader turns himself in for prison term
NKANDLA, South Africa (AP) - Former South African president Jacob Zuma turned himself over to police early Thursday to begin serving a 15-month prison term.
Just minutes before the midnight deadline for police to arrest him, Zuma left his Nkandla home in a convoy of vehicles. Zuma handed himself over to authorities to obey the country's highest court, the Constitutional Court, that he should serve a prison term for contempt.
"President Zuma has decided to comply with the incarceration order. He is on his way to hand himself into a Correctional Services Facility in KZN (KwaZulu-Natal province)," said a tweet posted by the Zuma Foundation.
Soon after South Africa's police confirmed that Zuma was in their custody.
Zuma's imprisonment comes after a week of rising tensions over his sentence.
___
Trump files suit against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former President Donald Trump has filed suit against three of the country's biggest tech companies, claiming he and other conservatives have been wrongfully censored. But legal experts say the suits are likely doomed to fail, given existing precedent and legal protections.
Trump announced the action against Facebook, Twitter and Google´s YouTube, along with the companies´ Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai, at a press conference Wednesday in New Jersey, where he demanded that his accounts be reinstated.
Trump has been suspended from the platforms since January, when his followers violently stormed the Capitol building, trying to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden's presidential win. The companies cited concerns that Trump would incite further violence and have kept him locked out. All three declined comment Wednesday.
"We're asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to order an immediate halt to social media companies' illegal, shameful censorship of the American people," Trump said of the filings. "We´re going to hold big tech very accountable."
Twitter, Facebook and Google are all private companies, and users must agree to their terms of service to use their products. Under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, social media platforms are allowed to moderate their services by removing posts that, for instance, are obscene or violate the services´ own standards, so long as they are acting in "good faith." The law also generally exempts internet companies from liability for the material that users post.
___
Euro 2020 final: England can finally end 55 years of misery
LONDON (AP) - All the years of hurt, England fans sing about it. All that sense of entitlement, rival fans are irritated by it.
After decades of embarrassment and moaning at tournaments, the English have a chance to finally back up the bravado - just listen to the team anthem, "Football´s Coming Home" - with a trophy.
The nation that lays claim to being the inventor of soccer, but is more fittingly one of the sport´s great underachievers, is back in a final - against Italy in the European Championships.
The teams will meet Sunday night at Wembley Stadium in London where England will be going for its first major title since winning the 1966 World Cup on their home field. The Italians are unbeaten in 33 games.
It´s been 55 agonizing years for England through 26 World Cups and European Championship tournaments, seven of which they didn´t even qualify for.
