News in brief
By The Associated Press
Harris celebrates late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
HOUSTON | Vice President Kamala Harris has eulogized U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee as a “force of nature.” Harris described Jackson Lee as a mentor who “always expected in all of us that we would rise to a point of excellence, knowing that life was too short and there’s too much to be done.”
Jackson Lee died July 19 at age 74 after being treated for pancreatic cancer. She was one of most prominent Black women in Congress.
Among the other speakers at the service Thursday in Houston were former President Bill Clinton and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader.
Hopes of finding more survivors wane after landslides in India
WAYANAD, India | Hopes of finding more than 180 missing people alive are waning as rescue workers searched through mud and debris for a third day after landslides set off by torrential rains killed at least 194 people in southern India.
A Kerala state official said the rescue work was challenging in a forested, hilly area while more rain fell Thursday.
Some of the victims have been found some 20 miles downriver from the area where the main landslides occurred. Officials say 187 people are unaccounted for.
Local media reported most of the victims were tea estate workers.
More than 5,500 people have been rescued, with some 1,100 rescue personnel, helicopters and heavy equipment involved.
Diplomatic efforts underway to persuade Maduro to release vote tallies
CARACAS, Venezuela | Diplomatic efforts are underway to persuade President Nicolás Maduro to release vote tallies from Venezuela’s presidential election, after opposition leaders disputed his claim of victory and amid increasing calls for an independent review of the results, according to officials from Brazil and México.
Government officials from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have been in constant communication with Maduro’s administration to convince him that he must show the vote tally sheets from Sunday’s election and allow impartial verification, a Brazilian government official told The Associated Press Thursday.
The officials have told Venezuela’s government that showing the data is the only way to dispel any doubt in the results, said the Brazilian official, who asked not be identified because they are not authorized to publicly speak about the diplomatic efforts.
Starmer announces policing plan after fatal stabbing of girls
LONDON | British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he will set a national policing capability to crack down on violent protesters after clashes with police across England the past two nights. Starmer condemned the violence and said: “We will put a stop to it.”
The announcement came after police were pelted with bottles in several cities by what Starmer called “marauding mobs” who apparently were reacting to a horrific stabbing Monday at a children’s dance class that killed three and wounded 10.
The attack at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance class shocked a country where knife crime is a long-standing and vexing problem, though mass stabbings are rare.
—From AP reports
