Ukrainian forces attacked Russian positions in the southeast of the country on Thursday as the country's long-awaited counteroffensive gets underway.
Why it matters: Ukraine has spent six months preparing for this moment. Its forces are armed with Western artillery, tanks and training. But Russia's military has also had ample time to entrench its positions and bring in additional forces.
President Biden said Thursday his administration is deploying more U.S. firefighters to Canada to tackle more than 400 wildfires that have displaced tens of thousands of people.
Driving the news: "We already have 600 American firefighters on the ground, and have been there for a while in Canada, including hotshots and the smokejumper crews," Biden said at a news conference Thursday, one day after speaking with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to offer additional help.
Secretary of State Tony Blinken called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and briefed him on his talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), including the possibility of Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel, according to a source familiar with the call.
Why it matters: The Biden administration wants to try and make a diplomatic push for a Saudi-Israeli peace deal in the next six to seven months before the presidential election campaign consumes President Biden’s agenda, as Axios reported two weeks ago.
Ukraine and Russiaaccused each other on Thursday of shelling evacuation efforts in the Kherson region after this week's massive dam collapse unleashed a torrent of water, flooding towns and destroying homes.
The big picture: The reported shelling on Ukraine-controlled parts of Kherson came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the area to assess the damage from the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. Both Kyiv and Moscow continued to trade blame over Tuesday's dam collapse.
A Mexican American U.S. Army veteran who helped stop a suspected mass shooter from killing more people at an LGBTQ club will serve as a Pride parade grand marshal in Colorado Springs next week.
A majority of Hispanic Catholics and Protestants in a new survey say they believe there are only two genders, but the percentage isn't as high as it is among white evangelicals.
Why it matters: Many Americans have in recent years embraced the idea that gender identity is complex and not necessarily a binary. But the conservative backlash against LGBTQ+ communities, including legislation in many red states limiting their rights, might be influencing religious Americans' perspectives, experts say.
It's too late to stop summer Arctic sea ice melting — even in a low-emissions scenario that caps global warming at a 1.5°C target in line with the Paris Agreement, according to a new study.
Why it matters: The peer-reviewed findings on the effects of human-caused climate change in the region, published in Nature Communications, suggest the first ice-free summer could be in the 2030s. That's a decade sooner than previously projected.
