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A dangerous heat wave threatened a wide swath of the Southwest with potentially deadly temperatures in the triple digits on Saturday as some cooling centers extended their hours and emergency rooms prepared to treat more people with heat-related illnesses. “Near record temperatures are expected this weekend!” the National Weather Service in Phoenix warned in a tweet, advising people to follow its safety tips such as drinking plenty of water and checking on relatives and neighbors. “Don’t be a statistic!” the weather service in Tucson advised, noting extreme heat can be deadly. “It CAN happen to YOU!” Over 110 million people, or about a third of Americans, were under extreme heat advisories, watches and warnings Saturday as the blistering heat wave was forecast to get worse this weekend for Nevada, Arizona and California. Temperatures in some desert areas were predicted to soar past 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.8 degrees Celsius) during the day, and remain in the 90s F (above 32.2 C) overnight. Around 200 hydration stations distributing bottles of water and cooling centers where potentially thousands of people can rest in air-conditioned spaces opened Saturday in public spaces like libraries, churches and businesses around the Phoenix area. Charles Sanders spent Friday afternoon with his Chihuahua mix Babygirl at the air-conditioned Justa Center, which offers daytime services to older homeless people in downtown Phoenix. It’s also serving as a hydration station, distributing free bottles of water. Because of funding and staffing limitations, the center can only stay open until 5:30 p.m., so Sanders, a 59-year-old who uses a wheelchair, has spent the sweltering nights with his pet in a tattered tent behind the building. “I’ve been here for four summers now and it’s the worst so far,” said Sanders, a former welder originally from Denver. David Hondula, chief heat officer for the City of Phoenix, said Friday that because of the health risks some centers were extending hours that are sometimes abbreviated because of limited volunteers and money. “This weekend there will be some of the most serious and hot conditions we’ve ever seen,” said Hondula. He said just one location, the Brian Garcia Welcome Center for homeless people in downtown Phoenix, planned to be open 24 hours and direct people to shelters and other air-conditioned spaces for the night. During especially hot spells in the past, the Phoenix Convention Center has opened some space as a nighttime cooling center, but Hondula said he had not heard of that possibility this year. Stacy Champion, an advocate for homeless people in Phoenix, took to Twitter this week to criticize the lack of nighttime cooling spaces for unsheltered individuals, saying they are “out of luck” if they have no place to go. In Las Vegas, casinos offered respite from the heat for many. Air-conditioned libraries, police station lobbies and other places from Texas to California planned to be open to the public to offer relief for at least part of the day. Emergency room doctors in Las Vegas have been treating more people for heat illness as the heat wave threatened to break the city’s all-time record high of 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47.2 degrees Celsius) this weekend. Dr. Ashkan Morim, who works in the ER at Dignity Health Siena Hospital in suburban Henderson, Nevada, spoke Friday of treating tourists this week who spent too long drinking by pools and became severely dehydrated, and a stranded hiker who needed liters of fluids to regain his strength. In New Mexico’s largest city of Albuquerque, splash pads will be open for extended hours and many public pools were offering free admission. In Boise, Idaho, churches and other nonprofit groups were offering water, sunscreen and shelter. In Southern California, temperatures soared into the triple digits in inland areas, and a ridge of high pressure was expected to keep its hold on the region for a couple of weeks. By mid Saturday afternoon, it was 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) in Death Valley, California, where forecasters have said the temperature could hit 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4 C) this weekend. The hottest temperature recorded at Death Valley was 134 F (56.6 C) in July 1913, according to the National Park Service. In Lancaster and Palmdale, north of Los Angeles, temperatures hit 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42.2 degrees Celsius), said National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford. In Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, the thermometer cleared triple digits in some areas. “We are going to be pretty warm for a while,” Wofford said, adding that temperatures would be above normal for about two weeks. “There’s been a lot of triple digits” across the region. In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass announced the city was opening cooling centers where residents can escape the heat. “The extreme heat that is forecasted this weekend can pose serious risks,” she warned. The hot, dry conditions sparked a series of blazes in Southern California southeast of Los Angeles, where firefighters Saturday were battling three separate brush fires amid blistering heat and low humidity in sparsely populated, hilly areas. The fires were all within 40 miles (65 kilometers) of each other in Riverside County, where temperatures in some areas spiked into the triple digits. “Heat is definitely a concern out there,” said April Newman of the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department, adding that the blazes were burning through dense, dry brush in rugged terrain. Phoenix on Saturday saw the city’s 16th consecutive day of 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) or higher temperatures, hitting that mark before noon and putting it on track to beat the longest measured stretch of such heat. The was record 18 days, in 1974. By late afternoon, the temperature in Phoenix had hit 118 degrees Fahrenheit (47.8 degrees Celsius), breaking the daily record set on July 15, 1998, of 117 F (47.2 C), the National Weather Service in Phoenix tweeted. The normal high for the date is 107 F (41.6 C). Emphasizing how dangerous the heat can be, police in the Phoenix suburb of Surprise said Saturday its officers on Friday found two older women sweltering at home in 114 degrees Fahrenheit (45.5 degrees Celsius) with just a tiny, overtaxed unit that failed to cool most of the house. After the women were taken to senior center to cool off, the department’s community services team bought and installed an adequate air conditioner and several fans in the home. Extreme heat is especially dangerous for older people; medications they may take or chronic conditions like heart or kidney disease can make it harder for their bodies to cool down. Regional health officials in Las Vegas launched a new database Thursday to report “heat-caused” and “heat-related” deaths in the city and surrounding Clark County from April to October. The Southern Nevada Health District said seven people have died since April 11, and a total of 152 deaths last year were determined to be heat-related. Arizona’s Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, reported this week that so far this year there have been 12 confirmed heat-associated deaths going back to April, half of them people who were homeless. Another 55 deaths are under investigation. There were 425 confirmed heat-associated deaths in Maricopa County last year, with more than half of them occurring in July and 80% of them happening outdoors. Closer to the Pacific coast, temperatures were less severe, but still have made for sweaty days on picket lines in the Los Angeles area, where actors joined screenwriters in strikes against producers. In Sacramento, the California State Fair kicked off with organizers canceling planned horseracing events due to concerns for animal safety. Pet owners around the Southwest were urged to keep their animals mostly inside.

Heavy rain sparked extreme flooding in New York's Hudson Valley that killed at least one person, swamped roadways and forced road closures on Sunday night. The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings across parts of southeastern New York, describing it as “life threatening.” Read: Crews continue to battle cargo ship blaze that killed 2 New Jersey firefighters One person died due to the flooding, Steven M. Neuhaus, the Orange County executive, told The New York Times. State Route 9W was flooded, and the Palisades Interstate Parkway became so drenched that parts of it was closed, the New York State Police said in a statement. The police asked the public to avoid the parkway. Read: Gunman opens fire on Philadelphia streets, killing 5 Cedar Pond Brook in Stony Point was flowing over the road and into private properties, according to WABC. Rockland County Executive Ed Day instructed residents to “remain indoors in a safe location” until the heavy rainfall ended.

Fire crews on Saturday continued to battle flames that have smoldered inside a cargo ship docked at the East Coast’s biggest port, days after the blaze claimed the lives of two New Jersey firefighters and injured five others. Newark firefighters Augusto “Augie” Acabou and Wayne “Bear” Brooks Jr. were killed in the Wednesday night fire aboard the Grande Costa d’Avorio, an Italian-flagged vessel carrying thousands of vehicles and other goods that was at port in Newark. Read:Gunman opens fire on Philadelphia streets, killing 5 Marine firefighting specialists made considerable progress after “actively conducting fire suppression both pier-side and on the water," the Coast Guard said in a statement. “As of Saturday afternoon, the fire is contained on the 11th deck and is being suppressed and no longer spreading to other areas of the vessel,” the statement said. Officials said fire crews arriving at about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday reported a blaze in the rear of the ship on the 10th to 12th levels. About an hour later, a mayday call was issued after a firefighter became trapped inside, and a second mayday call was issued for another firefighter. Acabou, a firefighter for more than nine years, was rescued from the ship before midnight and was later taken to a hospital, where he died Thursday morning. Brooks, a firefighter for more than 16 years, died early Thursday morning after he was recovered. Gov. Phil Murphy ordered flags to fly at half-staff in the honor of the two, who were remembered by friends and family at a memorial service Friday. Read: Six die in fire at elderly care home in Milan Officials said five other firefighters were injured, one suffering “steam burns from water accumulated on the cargo ship's floor” and the other four – two from Newark and two from neighboring Elizabeth – experiencing such things as heat exhaustion, smoke inhalation and respiratory distress. Public safety officials said all three Newark fire captains were released from the hospital and the burn victim was in stable condition and completing his recovery at home. Authorities say an investigation to determine the cause of the fire can’t begin until the fire is out. Officials said “a salvage plan will be developed and implemented once the fire is extinguished and the vessel had been deemed safe to move." Authorities had said debris inside the ship was clogging outflow spouts so the large amount of water being poured onto it could not drain out, causing the ship to tilt, but they said Saturday that efforts to remove water — which included poking holes in the hull — had improved the situation. The vessel is stable “with a slight list to the starboard side" and a one- to two-degree list would continue “as a way to accelerate the dewatering process,” they said. Officials also said Saturday that air monitoring had shown nothing “above actionable levels.” Cargo containers aboard had mostly food, but the cars were "the bigger concern,” the governor said. Grimaldi Deep Sea said no electric cars nor hazardous cargo was on board and no fuel spills had been detected. Read more: 25 dead after bus crashes and catches fire in western India In 2020, a fire aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard, a $1.2 billion Navy amphibious assault ship, burned for nearly five days in San Diego and the vessel eventually had to be scuttled.

Six people were killed when a small plane crashed in a field and burst into flames during the second of two landing attempts in fog just before dawn Saturday at a Southern California airport, authorities said. The crash of the Cessna C550 business jet occurred around 4:15 a.m. in Murrieta, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It took firefighters more than an hour to extinguish the flames, which charred about an acre of vegetation at the edge of French Valley Airport, said the Riverside County Fire Department. The jet, which can seat up to 13 people, crashed about 500 feet (150 meters) short of the intended runway, said Elliott Simpson, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board. Read: How 4 children survived 40 days after plane crash in Colombia’s jungle “Most of the airplane, with the exception of the tail, was consumed by fire,” Simpson told reporters at an afternoon briefing. Investigators were combing through a debris field about 200 feet (60 meters) long, he said. All six people on board died at the scene, the Riverside County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. The victims, all adults, were not immediately identified. The plane, which had departed from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas for the 45-minute flight to Murietta, crashed during its second approach, the NTSB said. The pilot was cleared for a landing using only instruments because of limited visibility from the low cloud ceiling, Simpson said. “The visibility and ceilings allowed for a landing, but it was right on the minimums" of the regulations set for that airport, he said. Investigators will review recordings between the pilot and air traffic control. Read: Philippine plane crash kills 2, another carrying 6 missing A preliminary report was expected in about two weeks, the NTSB said. The FAA’s aircraft tracking database lists the jet as owned by Prestige Worldwide Flights LLC of Imperial, California. Officials with the company could not be reached for comment. It was the second fatal crash this week at the small county-owned airport in Murrieta, a city with about 112,000 residents. A man was killed and three people were injured on July Fourth when a single-engine Cessna 172 crashed in a parking lot shortly after takeoff from French Valley. Read more: Plane crash kills 2, burns homes in California neighborhood

At the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, the aging men known by their serial numbers arrived at the meeting shackled. Every single one told the visitor — for many the first independent person they had talked to in 20 years — "You came too late." But they still talked, about the scant contacts with their families, their many health problems, the psychological and physical scars of the torture and abuse they experienced, and their hopes of leaving and reuniting with loved ones. For the first time since the facility in Cuba opened in 2002, a U.S. president had allowed a United Nations independent investigator, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, to visit. Also read: Lawyer: US approves release of oldest Guantanamo prisoner She said in an interview with The Associated Press that it's true she came too late, because a total of 780 Muslim men were detained there following the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, and today there are just 30 remaining. The United Nations had tried for many years to send an independent investigator, but was turned down by the administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Ní Aoláin praised President Joe Biden's administration for allowing "critical voices" into the facility. And she expressed hope other governments that have barred U.N. special investigators will follow Biden's example. The Belfast-born law professor said she believes the cross-section of "high-value" and "non-high value" detainees she met with — the Biden administration gave her free rein to talk to anyone — "recognized the importance of sitting in a room with me." Also read: 9/11 : Did Al-Qaeda accelerate the West's decline? "But I think there was a shared understanding that at this point, with only 30 of them left, while I can make recommendations and they will hopefully substantially change the day-to-day experience of these men, the vast majority of their lives was lived in a context where people like myself and the U.N. had no influence," she said. Ní Aoláin, concurrently a law professor at the University of Minnesota and at Queens University in Belfast, said she has visited many high-security prisons during her six years as a U.N. human rights investigator, including some built for those convicted of terrorism and related serious offenses. But "there is really no population on Earth like this population that came to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the circumstances in which they came, rendered across borders," she said. In her report issued June 26, Ní Aoláin said even though the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, were "crimes against humanity," the treatment of the detainees at Guantanamo was unjustified. The vast majority were brought there without cause and had no relationship to the terrorist attacks, she wrote, adding that all of the men still alive suffer from psychological and physical trauma. The Biden administration, which has said it wants to close the Guantanamo facility, said in a statement attached to the report that Ní Aoláin's findings "are solely her own" and "the United States disagrees in significant respects with many factual and legal assertions" but it will carefully review her recommendations. Also read: Afghans protest US order to give $3.5B to 9/11 victims In last week's interview with the AP, Ní Aoláin talked about what she saw on a personal level. She said all U.S. personnel are required to address detainees by their internment serial number, not their name, which she called "dehumanizing." Ní Aoláin said she is especially concerned about three detainees who have not been charged and "live in a complete legal limbo," which is "completely inconsistent with international law." Of the others, 16 have been cleared to leave but haven't found a country willing to take them and 11 still have cases pending before U.S. military commissions. When the detainees were brought to meet her, they were shackled, which she said is not standard procedure even for those convicted of terrorism. Under international law, she said, people cannot be shackled except for imperative security reasons, and in her view at Guantanamo it should be prohibited and used only as a last resort in exceptional circumstances. "You're dealing with an elderly vulnerable population who are incarcerated," Ní Aoláin said. "These men, because they are torture victim survivors, they have difficulties concentrating, they have challenges with recurrent memory, somatic pain. Many of them struggle with mobility and other issues," including permanent disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, chronic pain and gastrointestinal and urinary problems, she said. Ní Aoláin said force feeding has been an ongoing practice in response to their hunger strikes, which along with suicidal ideas and self-harm "speak to the core finding of this report — which is the deep and profound despair of individuals who've been held without trial for 20 years, have not seen their family members, have had no access to the outside world" except their lawyers until she visited in February for four days. Practices like using restraints cause added psychological distress for many of the detainees, she said. For the report, Ni Aoláin also interviewed victims, survivors and families of those killed on 9/11, and she met with some of the 741 men who already had been released from Guantanamo, including approximately 150 resettled in 29 countries. The rest returned home, and 30 men have since died. What the men still at Guantanamo and those who have been released need most, she said, "is torture rehabilitation — every single one — and the U.S. is a leader in torture rehabilitation." She welcomed Biden's "extraordinary statement" on June 26, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, reaffirming U.S. opposition "to all forms of inhumane treatment and our commitment to eliminating torture and assisting torture survivors as they heal and in their quests for justice." "That tells me … there is a capacity to remedy here," she said. Rehabilitation is critical for all torture victims, she said, but also "for ourselves, because that's what democracies do. … We look at our past, we take it onboard, and we address it, because democracies are self-correcting." Ní Aoláin called the communal meals and communal prayer for all detainees — which the U.S. emphasizes —very important. "The men themselves are enormously important to each other in their rehabilitation," she said. "There is an enormous bond of support and fraternity and care amongst these men for each other." Ni Aoláin noted the detainees have some privileges — they are able to watch television and read books — and there are language classes, some opportunities to learn about computers and art lessons. She said she was "really gratified" the Biden administration recently decided to allow detainees to take as much of their artwork "as is practicable" when they leave. "This creative work is enormously important to these men," she said, noting that a detainee who recently returned to Pakistan had an art exhibition in Karachi some weeks ago. Among the many recommendations Ní Aoláin's report makes is for torture rehabilitation and additional education and training, especially for those cleared to leave. "These men are going to go out into the world," she said. "Many of them were young men when they were detained and rendered to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They're now old men, middle-aged men, who have to figure out how to go back into life, and many of them have huge anxieties" about providing for their families and about being fathers after so many years.  

A heavily armed gunman in a bulletproof vest opened fire on the streets of Philadelphia on Monday night, seemingly at a random, killing five people and wounding two boys before surrendering, police said. The shootings took place over several city blocks in the southwestern neighborhood of Kingsessing. Responding officers chased the suspect as he continued to fire, and he was arrested in an alley after giving himself up, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a news conference. "Thank God our officers were on the scene and responded as quickly as they did. I can't even describe the level of bravery and courage that was shown, in addition to the restraint that was shown here," Outlaw said. Also read: Banning gun sales to young American adults under 21 is unconstitutional, judge rules No connection was immediately known between the victims and the shooter, she said. He had a bulletproof vest, an "AR-type rifle," multiple magazines, a handgun and a police scanner. Officers were flagged down at about 8:30 p.m., and multiple calls of shots fired came in from Kingsessing. Police found some gunshot victims, and as they were attending to them, they heard more gunfire, Outlaw said. Police later told Fox 29 that a fifth victim was found. He was chased into his home and shot to death. Bullet casings were found outside the home. The suspected shooter was identified as a 40-year-old man. A second person was also taken into custody who may have returned fire at the suspect, but police did not know whether there was a connection between the two people, Outlaw said. The chief said dozens of shell casings were found across an eight block area. Also read: Police: 8 killed in Texas mall shooting, gunman also dead "You can see there are several scenes out here," Outlaw said. "We're canvassing the area to get as much as we can, to identify witnesses, to identify where cameras are located and to do everything to figure out the why," Outlaw said. Three of the dead were 20 to 59 years old, while the fourth, who had not yet been identified, was estimated to be between 16 and 21. The victim found in his home was 31 years old. All were male. The two hospitalized victims are boys, ages 2 and 13. They were in stable condition, Outlaw said. The shooting occurred a day after gunfire erupted at a holiday weekend block party in Baltimore, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the southwest, killing two people and wounding 28 others. The wounded in that shooting ranged in age from 13 to 32, with more than half minors, according to officials. The Philadelphia violence is the country's 29th mass killing in 2023, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University, the highest on record by this time in the year. Also read: Texas man kills 5 neighbors after they complained of gunfire The numbers people killed in such events is also the highest by this time in the year. There have been more than 550 mass killings since 2006, according to the database, in which at least 2,900 people have died and at least 2,000 people have been injured.  

Seeking a valid U.S. passport for that 2023 trip? Buckle up, wishful traveler, for a very different journey before you step anywhere near an airport. A much-feared backup of U.S passport applications has smashed into a wall of government bureaucracy as worldwide travel rebounds toward record pre-pandemic levels — with too few humans to handle the load. The result, say aspiring travelers in the U.S. and around the world, is a maddening pre-travel purgatory defined, at best, by costly uncertainty. With family dreams and big money on the line, passport seekers describe a slow-motion agony of waiting, worrying, holding the line, refreshing the screen, complaining to Congress, paying extra fees and following incorrect directions. Some applicants are buying additional plane tickets to snag in-process passports where they sit — in other cities — in time to make the flights they booked in the first place. These are the countries you can visit visa-free with a Bangladeshi passport in 2023 So grim is the outlook that U.S. officials aren't even denying the problem or predicting when it will ease. They're blaming the epic wait times on lingering pandemic -related staffing shortages and a pause of online processing this year. That's left the passport agency flooded with a record-busting 500,000 applications a week. The deluge is on-track to top last year's 22 million passports issued, the State Department says. Stories from applicants and interviews by The Associated Press depict a system of crisis management, in which the agencies are prioritizing urgent cases such as applicants traveling for reasons of "life or death" and those whose travel is only a few days off. For everyone else, the options are few and expensive. So, 2023 traveler, if you still need a valid U.S. passport, prepare for an unplanned excursion into the nightmare zone. 'PLENTY OF TIME' TO 'WE'LL STILL BE OK' TO BIG PROBLEMS It was early March when Dallas-area florist Ginger Collier applied for four passports ahead of a family vacation at the end of June. The clerk, she said, estimated wait times at eight to 11 weeks. They'd have their passports a month before they needed them. "Plenty of time," Collier recalled thinking. Then the State Department upped the wait time for a regular passport to as much as 13 weeks. "We'll still be okay," she thought. Pregnant Russians flock to Argentina seeking new passports At T-minus two weeks to travel, this was her assessment: "I can't sleep." This after months of calling, holding, pressing refresh on a website, trying her member of Congress — and stressing as the departure date loomed. Failure to obtain the family's passports would mean losing $4,000, she said, as well as the chance to meet one of her sons in Italy after a study-abroad semester. "My nerves are shot, because I may not be able to get to him," she said. She calls the toll-free number every day, holds for as much as 90 minutes to be told — at best — that she might be able to get a required appointment at passport offices in other states. "I can't afford four more plane tickets anywhere in the United States to get a passport when I applied in plenty of time," she said. "How about they just process my passports?" THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT HAS A CULPRIT: COVID By March, concerned travelers began asking for answers and then demanding help, including from their representatives in the House and Senate, who widely reported at hearings this year that they were receiving more complaints from constituents on passport delays than any other issue. The U.S. secretary of state had an answer, of a sort. Bangladeshi Passport Renewal Process for Expatriates Living Abroad "With COVID, the bottom basically dropped out of the system," Antony Blinken told a House subcommittee March 23. When demand for travel all but disappeared during the pandemic, he said, the government let contractors go and reassigned staff that had been dedicated to handling passports. Around the same time, the government also halted an online renewal system "to make sure that we can fine tune it and improve it," Blinken said. He said the department is hiring agents as quickly as possible, opening more appointments and trying to address the crisis in other ways. Passport applicants lit up social media groups, toll-free numbers and lawmakers' phone lines with questions, appeals for advice and cries for help. Facebook and WhatsApp groups bristled with reports of bewilderment and fury. Reddit published eye-watering diaries, some more than 1,000 words long, of application dates, deposits submitted, contacts made, time on hold, money spent and appeals for advice. It was 1952 when a law required, for the first time, passports for every U.S. traveler abroad, even in peacetime. Now, passports are processed at centers around the country and printed at secure facilities in Washington, D.C. and Mississippi, according to the Government Printing Office. But the number of Americans holding valid U.S. passports has grown at roughly 10% faster than the population over the past three decades, according to Jay Zagorsky, an economist at Boston University's Questrom School of Business. Bangladesh E-passport Error Correction Process After passport delays derailed his own plans to travel to London earlier this year, Zagorsky found that the number of U.S. passports per American has soared from about three per 100 people in 1989 to nearly 46 per 100 people in 2022. Americans, it turns out, are on the move. "As a society gets richer," says Zagorsky, "the people in that society say, 'I want to visit the rest of the world.'" FOR AMERICANS AND OTHERS ABROAD, IT'S NO PICNIC EITHER At U.S. consulates overseas, the quest for U.S. visas and passports isn't much brighter. On a day in June, people in New Delhi could expect to wait 451 days for a visa interview, according to the website. Those in Sao Paulo could plan on waiting more than 600 days. Aspiring travelers in Mexico City were waiting about 750 days; in Bogota, Colombia, it was 801 days. In Israel, the need is especially acute. More than 200,000 people with citizenship in both countries live in Israel. It's one appointment per person, even for newborns, who must have both parents involved in the process, before traveling to the United States. Bangladeshi passport’s ranking improves in 2023, still behind Iran and Sri Lanka as per Henley Index   Batsheva Gutterman started looking for three appointments immediately after she had a baby in December, with an eye toward attending a family celebration in July, in Raleigh, N.C. Her quest for three passports stretched from January to June, days before travel. And it only resolved after Gutterman payed a small fee to join a WhatsApp group that alerted her to new appointments, which stay available for only a few seconds. She ultimately got three appointments on three consecutive days — bureaucracy embodied. "We had to drive the entire family with three small children, an hour-and-a-half to Tel Aviv three days in a row, taking off work and school," she said. "This makes me incredibly uneasy having a baby in Israel as an American citizen, knowing there is no way I can fly with that baby until we get lucky with an appointment." Recently, there appeared to be some progress. The wait for an appointment for a renewed U.S. passport stood at 360 days on June 8. On July 2, the wait was down to 90 days, according to the web site. FRUSTRATING TALES EMERGE FROM THE TRENCHES Back in the U.S., Marni Larsen of Holladay, Utah, stood in line in Los Angeles, California, on June 14, in hopes of snagging her son's passport. That way, she hoped, the pair could meet the rest of their family, who had already left as scheduled for Europe, for a long-planned vacation. She'd applied for her son's passport two months earlier and spent weeks checking for updates online or through a frustrating call system. As the mid-June vacation loomed, Larsen reached out to Sen. Mitt Romney 's office, where one of four people he says is assigned full-time to passport issues were able to track down the document in New Orleans. It was supposed to be shipped to Los Angeles, where she got an appointment to retrieve it. That meant Larsen had to buy new tickets for herself and her son to Los Angeles and reroute their trip from there to Rome. All on a bet that her son's passport was indeed shipped as promised. "We are just waiting in this massive line of tons of people," Larsen said. "It's just been a nightmare." They succeeded. But not everyone has been so lucky. Miranda Richter applied in person to renew passports for herself and her husband, as well as apply a new one on Feb. 9 for a trip with their neighbors to Croatia on June 6. She ended up canceling, losing more than $1,000. Her timeline went like this: Passports for her husband and daughter arrived in 11 weeks, while Richter's photo was rejected. On May 4, she sent in a new one via priority mail. Then she paid a rush fee of $79, which was never charged to her credit card. Between May 30 and June 2, four days before travel, Richter and her husband spent more than 12 hours on the national passport line while also calling their congressman, senators and third-party couriers. Finally, she showed up in person at the federal building in downtown Houston, 30 minutes before the passport office opened. Richter said there were at least 100 people in line. "The security guard asked when is my appointment, and I burst out in tears," she recalls. She couldn't get one. "It didn't work." FINALLY: A HAPPY ENDING "I just got my passports!" Ginger Collier texts. She ended up showing up at the passport office in Dallas with her daughter-in-law at 6:30 a.m. and being sorted into groups and lined up against walls. Finally they were called to a window, where the agent was "super nice" and pulled all four of the family's applications — paperwork that had been sitting in the office since March 17. More than seven hours later, the two left the office with directions to pick up their passports the next day. They did — with four days to spare. "What a ridiculous process," Collier says. Nevertheless, the reunion with her son in Italy was sweet. She texted last week: "It was the best hug ever!"  

US President Joe Biden's claim that he reduced the deficit by $1.7 trillion in a span of two years has been widely disputed by fact-checking organisations. The analysis suggests that the reduction was primarily a consequence of the expiration of temporary pandemic-related spending measures rather than deliberate actions taken by the administration. The Washington Post, renowned for its rigorous fact-checking process, has deemed Biden's claim “highly misleading,” and other fact-checkers have also disputed its accuracy. Also read: Just a day after Blinken’s Beijing visit to stabilize US-China relations, Biden calls Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’ A tweet from the verified account of US President Biden, on June 22, 2023, said: “I cut the deficit by 1.7 trillion dollars in two years – that's more than any president on record." However, according to the analysis provided by fact-checking reports, the $1.7 trillion reduction in spending touted by Biden was not a result of deliberate action taken by his administration but rather the expiration of pandemic emergency spending measures. These spending measures had automatic expiration provisions, meaning that the reduction in the deficit occurred due to the temporary nature of the pandemic-related spending, rather than intentional efforts by the president to address the national debt. Also Read: Biden ready to welcome Modi, looking past human rights record and ties to Russia In essence, the reduction was a consequence of the specific circumstances surrounding the pandemic emergency spending, rather than a testament to Biden's fiscal policies. The Washington Post's assessment and other fact-checking organisations' findings underscore the need to scrutinize political claims made by public figures. The reports indicate that Biden's claim of a $1.7 trillion reduction in the deficit requires further examination and context to accurately understand the role played by his administration in this decline. Also read: Biden to host outgoing NATO secretary-general Stoltenberg as competition to replace him heats up  

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are ready to fight, offline. In a now-viral back-and-forth seen on Twitter and Instagram this week, the two tech billionaires seemingly agreed to a "cage match" face off. It all started when Musk, who owns Twitter, responded to a tweet about Meta reportedly preparing to release a new Twitter rival called "Threads." He took a dig about the world becoming "exclusively under Zuck's thumb with no other options" — but then one Twitter user jokingly warned Musk of Zuckerberg's jiu jitsu training. "I'm up for a cage match if he is lol," Musk wrote late Tuesday. Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta Platforms, soon responded — and appeared to agree to Musk's proposal. "Send me location," Zuckerberg wrote on a Wednesday night Instagram story, which showed a screenshot of Musk's tweet alongside another user's response urging the Twitter owner to "start training." Zuckerberg is actually trained in mixed martial arts. The Facebook founder posted about completing his first jiu jitsu tournament last month. In response to Zuckerberg's location request on Wednesday, Musk proposed the Vegas Octagon. He then joked about his fighting skills and workout routine, suggesting that the fight may not be serious. "I have this great move that I call 'The Walrus', where I just lie on top of my opponent & do nothing," Musk wrote. Whether or not Musk and Zuckerberg actually make it to the ring has yet to be seen — especially as Musk often tweets about action prematurely or without following through. But, even if their cage match agreement is all a joke, the banter gained attention. An endless chain of memes and posts to "choose your fighter" have sprung up in response. "The story speaks for itself," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to The Associated Press. Zuckerberg has not commented further. Despite the uncertainity of a cage match actually happening, bids are already being placed for a projected winner. DraftKings' projected odds stood at 140+ for Musk and -160 for Zuckerberg on Thursday. The Associated Press also reached out to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which owns the Octagon, and Twitter for statements. Twitter's press email responded with a poop emoji, its standard automated response to reporters.  

When the Titan submersible made its fateful dive into the North Atlantic on Sunday, it also plunged into the murkily regulated waters of deep-sea exploration. It's a space on the high seas where laws and conventions can be sidestepped by risk-taking entrepreneurs and the wealthy tourists who help fund their dreams. At least for now. "We're at a point in submersible operations in deep water that's kind of akin to where aviation was in the early 20th century," said Salvatore Mercogliano, a history professor at Campbell University in North Carolina who focuses on maritime history and policy. Also read: Titan submersible imploded, killing all 5 on board, US Coast Guard says "Aviation was in its infancy — and it took accidents for decisions to be made to be put into laws," Mercogliano said. "There'll be a time when you won't think twice about getting on a submersible and going down 13,000 feet. But we're not there yet." Thursday's announcement by the U.S. Coast Guard that the Titan had imploded near the Titanic shipwreck, killing all five people on board, has drawn attention to how these expeditions are regulated. Mercogliano said such operations are scrutinized less than the companies that launch people into space. In the Titan's case, that's in part because it operated in international waters, far from the reach of many laws of the United States or other nations. The Titan wasn't registered as a U.S. vessel or with international agencies that regulate safety, Mercogliano added. Nor was it classified by a maritime industry group that sets standards on matters such as hull construction. Stockton Rush, the OceanGate CEO who died on Titan, had said he didn't want to be bogged down by such standards. "Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation," Rush wrote in a blog post on his company's website. Also read: 5 people on missing submersible believed to be dead, company says The Titan was a small vessel that was launched from another ship, the Canadian icebreaker Polar Prince, a setup that Mercogliano likened to pulling a boat on a trailer, in terms of regulatory purposes. "The highway patrol has jurisdiction over the car and over the trailer, but not over the boat," he said. "The boat is cargo." Experts say wrongful death and negligence lawsuits are likely in the Titan case — and they could be successful. But legal actions will face various challenges, including waivers signed by the Titan passengers that warned of the myriad ways they could die. Mike Reiss, a writer for "The Simpsons" television show who went on a Titanic expedition with OceanGate in 2022, recalled that his waiver said he would be "subject to extreme pressure. And any failure of the vessel could cause severe injury or death." "I will be exposed to risks associated with high pressure gases, pure oxygen, high voltage systems which could lead to injury, disability and death," Reiss said Thursday, going by memory. "If I am injured, I may not receive immediate medical attention." Also read: What we know about the Titanic-bound submersible that's missing with 5 people onboard Thomas Schoenbaum, a University of Washington law professor and author of the book "Admiralty and Maritime Law," said such documents may be upheld in court if they are worded well. "If those waivers are good, and I imagine they probably are because a lawyer probably drafted them, (families) may not be able to recover damages." At the same time, OceanGate could still face repercussions under the Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993, Schoenbaum said. But it may depend on which arm of OceanGate owned the Titan submersible. Rush, the late OceanGate CEO, told AP in 2021 that it was an American company. But he said OceanGate Expeditions, which led dives to the Titanic, was based in the Bahamas. Schoenbaum said the Bahamas subsidiary has the potential to circumvent U.S. law, but courts have at times "pierced the corporate veil" and OceanGate could be found liable. There are also questions of whether the Titan was insured or if the Canadian icebreaker's insurance could come into play. The countries where lawsuits may be filed could also depend on contracts signed by passengers and crew. "I would be very surprised, in a high-risk operation like this, if the contract did not address which law applies and where any claim can be filed," said George Rutherglen, a professor of admiralty law at the University of Virginia. In the meantime, Rutherglen said, he expects the U.S. will respond with tighter regulations given the loss of life and the millions of dollars spent by the Coast Guard. "These wrecks at the bottom of the sea have become more accessible with advancing technology," Rutherglen said. "It doesn't mean that it's necessarily become safer to go down and take a look." The International Maritime Organization, which regulates commercial shipping, could take some kind of action, he added, and Congress also could pass legislation. Nations such as the U.S. could, for example, block ships engaging in such expeditions from docking in their ports. "I would just be surprised if any incident with all of these costs involved — wrongful death, expensive rescue — would not lead to some initiatives," he said. But not everyone agrees. Forrest Booth, a San Francisco-based partner at Kennedys Law, said the International Maritime Organization "has no authority to impose its will." "There could be a move for states to adopt an international treaty on the deep ocean," Booth said via email. "But that will be resisted by some nations that want to do deep-sea mining, etc. I do not think much of substance will happen after the media attention of this event dies down."