WASHINGTON (AP) – An upcoming celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, “The Great American State Fair,” recently had several musical guests back out partly over the event’s ties to President Donald Trump. Now, Trump himself is slated to headline the festivities, the organizers said Saturday.
Stock indexes closed higher on Wall Street. The S&P 500 added 0.2% Friday. Tech stocks led the way, with Dell Technologies in a stunning 32.8% gain. The Dow added 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%. European and Asian markets mostly rose. Brent crude fell 1.7%.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. military stopped a merchant vessel trying to break through its blockade of Iranian ports by firing a missile into its engine room, the U.S. Central Command said on Saturday.
BANGKOK (AP) – A blast on Sunday at a building in northeastern Myanmar said to have been storing explosives for mining has killed more than 45 people, according to rescue workers and independent media reports. About 70 other people were injured in the explosion that took place around noon in the village of Kaungtup, in Namhkam township.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) – U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau is scheduled to meet with officials in the Dominican Republic on Saturday as part of an official two-day trip that included a stop in neighboring Haiti. The talks are focused on mutual economic commercial interests and regional priorities including security, according to a U.S. government statement.
BUNIA, Congo (AP) – Five patients have recovered from a rare type of Ebola virus, the head of the World Health Organization said Sunday during a visit to Bunia in eastern Congo, a city at the heart of an outbreak. “Four people will be discharged today and there was one that was discharged the day before yesterday,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – The end of California’s chaotic governor’s race was approaching Saturday as leading candidates rushed to deliver their closing arguments before voting concludes Tuesday. Former U.S. health secretary Xavier Becerra has called for “hot competence summer,” promoting his decades of public service as evidence he has what it takes to be California’s next governor.
Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:
Moments after Jenna Carberg gave birth to her daughter, doctors put the baby on her chest. “I felt a disconnect right away,” she recalled. At home, the Orlando, Florida, mom was exhausted and anxious and cried every day. She was eventually diagnosed with postpartum depression – a potentially dangerous condition that can fill a typically joyous time with deep despair.