Tuesday morning news: June 20, 2023

Blinken China » Secretary of State Tony Blinken says China has agreed to work to firm up rapidly crumbling ties between the two nations.

TONY BLINKEN: The relationship was at a point of instability, and both sides recognized the need to work to stabilize it.

Blinken heard there after meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Both said they were satisfied with progress made during the two days of talks in Beijing, though they did not point to many specific areas of agreement.

Blinken did say he raised as a priority the issue of synthetic fentanyl and its components flowing from China to the United States.

BLINKEN: We agreed to explore setting up a working group, a joint effort, so that we can shut off the flow of precursor chemicals, which helped fuel this crisis and a growing number of deaths.

But China rebuffed his biggest request. Beijing did not agree to improve communications between their militaries which the U.S. says is crucial to avoid miscalculation and conflict.

Weather » In central Mississippi, residents are picking up the pieces this morning after tornadoes ripped through rural Jasper Country, killing at least one person and injuring nearly two dozen others.

Meanwhile, storms continue to batter Southern states after days of severe weather.

National Weather Service forecaster Brian Squitieri:

SQUITIERI: The Greater severe weather threat is going to ship more eastward towards portions of southern Alabama portions of Georgia, northern Florida peninsula.

Tens of thousands are still without power from previous storms.

Ukraine » NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Ukraine has every right to take back its own land and the West will continue to back Kyiv.

STOLTENBERG: The more land the Ukrainians are able to liberate, the stronger their hand will eventually be at the negotiating table.

After a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday. Stoltenberg said formally inviting Ukraine to join NATO is not on the table right now.

Ukraine says its forces have liberated eight villages in the last two weeks.

The Kremlin claims Ukraine has not gained any ground during its new counteroffensive.

West Bank fighting » Israeli forces raided a refugee camp in the city of Jenin to arrest two Palestinian militants in what turned into a 10-hour firefight. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

SOUND: [Israeli troops shooting]

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Sound from a helmet camera worn by an Israeli soldier amid a gun battle with militants in the West Bank.

Five Palestinians died and 90 more suffered injuries. Eight Israeli soldiers were wounded. The extremist group Islamic Jihad has said three of the dead were its fighters.

Israeli forces deployed attack helicopters to the area for the first time in two decades to evacuate their troops from the gunfight.

NETANYAHU: [Speaking Hebrew]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the Israeli troops who fought in the raid and said that in recent months Israeli troops have arrested and killed a record number of Palestinian militants.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

SOUND: [Mourners singing]

Uganda » A village in Uganda is mourning 42 victims of a deadly school attack.

Suspected extremist rebels on Friday night raided a secondary school near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Thirty-eight of those killed were students. And the assailants kidnapped at least six other students.

Local officials blame the Allied Democratic Forces for the attack. The group has ties to the ISIS.

Sudan » Donors from around the world have promised almost $1.5 billion in additional aid for Sudan amid a growing humanitarian crisis.

Fighting between military factions has killed more than 3,000 people and decimated the country’s infrastructure and food supplies.

The U.N. Secretary-General said, “The scale and speed of Sudan’s descent into death and destruction is unprecedented.”

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Spaniards are getting fed up with Socialist policies and politicians. Plus, A visit to sheep-shearing school. This is The World and Everything in It.

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