PBS News Hour | News Wrap: Ukraine and Russia attack each other’s territory | Season 2024

GEOFF BENNETT: Other headlines of the day:## Ukraine and Russia have launched deadly attacks on each other. Today two Russian ballistic missiles# destroyed homes and left a huge crater in eastern Ukraine.## At least five people were killed and 41 others# injured.

And in Russian-annexed Crimea, memorials were erected yesterday after Ukrainian drone and missile attacks killed six people and injured more than 150 others. Russia claims the Ukrainians used American-made weapons in the attack. This claim has not been confirmed.

The Foreign Ministry said Russia had summoned the US ambassador to discuss the incident.

MATTHEW MILLER, State Department spokesman: I’ll just tell you what the ambassador said when she told me, “Of course we regret every civilian loss in this war.”

We supply weapons to Ukraine so that it can defend its sovereign territory against armed aggression.

This also includes Crimea, which is of course part of Ukraine.

And Russia could end this war today.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meanwhile, European Union states today agreed to transfer an initial $1.5 billion from profits on frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.

EU members agreed on the plan last month, but objections from Hungary delayed the process.

A three-day mourning period is in effect in the Russian region of Dagestan after gunmen killed at least 20 people in Christian and Jewish places of worship on Sunday.

Investigators searched an Orthodox church and a synagogue that were among the locations where the coordinated shootings took place.

Although no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, local authorities blame Islamic extremists for the attacks.

Here at home, parts of the Midwest have been hit by flooding from torrential rains, forcing evacuations and adding to the misery of a region already battling an oppressive heat wave.

Heavy flooding swept through Sioux Falls, South Dakota over the weekend.

In Iowa, water levels rose above the record high set in 1993, according to official figures.

The swelling caused the collapse of a railroad bridge connecting Iowa and South Dakota.

The governor of South Dakota warned that there is still a long way to go to repair all the damage caused by the rain.

GOVERNMENT.

KRISTI NOEM (R-SD): We damaged roads.

We have damaged bridges.

We lost a Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad bridge.

This is the main bridge to Iowa, carrying numerous goods and various materials.

And to us and the others, the collapse of the river and the sinking of the Big Sioux last night was a great loss.

This will keep us busy for many, many months to come.

GEOFF BENNETT: According to national weather services, parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa received eight times the average rainfall.

And more rain is forecast.

In Maryland, the ship that lost power in March and crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge finally left Baltimore today.

The Dali was stuck under bridge debris until it was refloated and guided back to port last month.

The ship set off again this morning under its own power,## accompanied by a Coast Guard escort.# Its destination was Norfolk, Virginia,## where the remaining containers of the Dali# will be removed and repaired.

The Supreme Court announced today that it will hear its first case involving medical care for transgender youth, addressing an issue that has become politically polarizing across the country.

The case concerns an appeal by the Biden administration against a law in the state of Tennessee that restricts gender reassignment care for minors.

Lawyers for the affected youth told the judges: “Without the immediate intervention of this court, the transgender youth and their families will be left in limbo.”

“# The hearing will take place in the autumn.

Today marks two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion.

Protesters: My body, my decision!

GEOFF BENNETT: Abortion rights advocates gathered on the steps of the Supreme Court to mark the anniversary and criticise the ruling, engaging in verbal altercations with anti-abortion protesters.

Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke today.

During a campaign rally in Maryland, she condemned former President Donald Trump for his stance on reproductive rights.

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States: Today, our daughters have fewer rights than their grandmothers.

This is a health crisis, and we all know who is to blame: Donald Trump.

GEOFF BENNETT: The former president nominated three conservative justices to the Supreme Court before the Roe decision was overturned.

During the election campaign, Trump repeatedly took responsibility for this decision.

Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit today to block a Louisiana law that requires the Ten Commandments to be posted in every public school classroom.

The lawsuit filed in federal court alleges that the state’s primary interest in passing the measure is, quote, “to impose religious beliefs on children in public schools without regard to the harm caused to students and families.”

The language of the law insists that the commandments are – quote – “fundamental documents of our state and national government.”

They are expected to be in classrooms early next year.

And on Wall Street, the Dow Jones index# gained 260 points today to close at over 39,400.## The Nasdaq lost almost 200 points after hitting records last week#.

The S&P 500 also closed lower.

Also featured in the News Hour: Amy Walter and Francesca Chambers analyze the latest political headlines, the loss of one of the world’s largest groundwater sources threatens agriculture in the United States’ Great Plains, and LaToya Ruby Frazier’s activist approach to art is expressed in her first retrospective.