Tuesday morning news: July 26, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Lavrov in Egypt, says Russia wants to oust Zelenskyy » Russia wants Volodymyr Zelenskyy gone.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told an Arab League summit in Cairo that Moscow wants to—quote—“help” the Ukrainian people …

LAVROV: To liberate themselves from the burden of this absolutely unacceptable regime.

Moscow has denied that it wants to topple Ukraine’s government, even as it closed in on Kyiv earlier this year.

Lavrov traveled to Cairo largely to reassure Egypt’s government that grain supplies will reach them.

Russia launched an airstrike on the port city of Odesa over the weekend, just hours after signing a deal saying it wouldn’t interfere with grain shipments from Ukrainian ports.

Northwest braces for triple digit heat » The Pacific Northwest is bracing for a major heat wave. In Oregon and Washington, temperatures will likely hit triple digits in some places.

Lisa Dupre is events coordinator in the city of Hillsboro in suburban Portland. She said they’re bracing for the heat at their summer fair.

DUPRE: They have got misting stations set up. They’ve got a refilling station for water bottles, so … We have a beautiful new expo hall in here that’s fully air conditioned.

Last summer, about 800 people died across Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia during an extreme heat event.

The Northwest heat wave comes on the heels of scorching heat in the Northeast.

Marc Chenard with the National Weather Service said it’s cooling a bit, but the weekend was brutal.

CHENARD: We had a record in Newark, New Jersey, 102. And they actually, Newark just had five straight days over 100.

The temperature hit 97 in The Big Apple. One New Yorker said he’s thankful for air conditioning.

AUDIO: We got through the worst of it so it’s been challenging to find ways to keep cool and not get dehydrated or like burned out.

Boston hit 100. Providence, Rhode Island hit 98, both were record highs.

California wildfire » Firefighters in California made some progress Monday beating back the flames from a wildfire near Yosemite National Park.

CalFire operation chief Justin Macomb said the blaze has been highly unpredictable.

MACOMB: We surged all those resources in as fast as we could. But in my career, I haven’t seen fire behavior like that.

The blaze has forced thousands of people in mountain communities to evacuate.

And the smoke from the fire has drifted more than 200 miles reaching parts of Nevada and the San Francisco Bay.

On Monday, officials said the fire had consumed more than 26 square miles of forest land and was 10 percent contained.

Investigators do not yet know the cause of the fire.

GA gov testifies in Trump probe » Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is the latest official to testify in a probe of former President Trump’s response to 2020 election results. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: A grand jury reportedly heard recorded testimony from Kemp on Monday. It’s part of a probe launched by an Atlanta area prosecutor into whether Trump illegally interfered in the presidential election in the state.

It centers on Trump’s communications with Georgia officials, including a recorded call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January of last year. Trump’s heard on the recording saying he wants officials to “find” more votes.

Trump insists he said nothing improper.

The grand jury has already heard from Raffensperger and other officials. All testimony is sealed and will not be made public.

At the end of the probe, the jury will make a recommendation to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as to whether to file criminal charges.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Myanmar executions » In Myanmar, the ruling military junta has executed four pro-democracy activists supposedly on terrorism-related charges.

Their deaths are drawing condemnation around the world.

Phil Robertson with Human Rights Watch.

ROBERTSON: They are now moving to execute political prisoners. That is the message today that we will stop at nothing. It is a sign of the depravity of the Myanmar junta, that they are prepared to take this kind of step.

One of the men executed was Phyo Zeya Thaw, a hip-hop-star-turned-politican. The former lawmaker was an ally of Aung San Suu Kyi, who was removed from office in the military coup last year.

Thaw was hanged alongside well-known activist Ko Jimmy.

The other two men executed were lesser known. They were accused of killing a woman they allegedly thought was a military informer.

Death toll tops 300 from Pakistan monsoon » AUDIO: [Rain] In Pakistan, more than 300 people have died after five weeks of heavy monsoon rains.

AUDIO: [Buckets]

People are using buckets to bail water out of their homes and rescuers are driving in water up to their fenders trying to reach others.

Monsoon season in Pakistan begins in July and does not relent until September. This year, heavy rain has damaged or destroyed 9,000 homes in the country.

I'm Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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