News in brief
By The Associated Press
New mom among the dead in Arkansas grocery store shooting
A new mom reveling in her daughter’s development was among four people shot and killed when a gunman opened fire at an Arkansas grocery story.
Callie Weems died in the shooting Friday in the city of Fordyce. Weems’ mom, Helen Browning, said Sunday Weems had a 10-month-old daughter who was a constant source of entertainment and wonder.
In all, 14 people were wounded in the attack, including the alleged gunman. It’s at least the third mass shooting at a grocery store in recent years. A gunman in Buffalo, New York, killed 10 people at a store in 2022. That was about a year after a store shooting in Boulder, Colorado.
Death toll at Hajj pilgrimage rises to 1,300
CAIRO | More than 1,300 people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the faithful faced soaring temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom.
Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdurrahman Al-Jalajel said that 83% of the fatalities were among unauthorized pilgrims who walked long distances in soaring temperatures.
Egyptian officials said more than 660 of the dead were from Egypt.
The fatalities included 165 pilgrims from Indonesia, 98 from India and dozens more from Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Malaysia, according to an Associated Press tally. Two U.S. pilgrims were also reported dead.
Columbia University administrators put on leave over alleged text exchange
NEW YORK | Columbia University said it has placed three administrators on leave while it investigates allegations that they exchanged unprofessional text messages while attending a panel discussion about antisemitism on campus.
The university said the administrators work for its undergraduate Columbia College, which hosted the panel discussion “Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present and Future” during an alumni reunion on May 31.
The university said the college’s dean, Josef Sorett, informed his team on Thursday that the three administrators were being put on leave.
—From AP reports
