Headline News from The Associated Press
AP Headline News - Jun 14 2024 17:00 (EDT)
AP News, I'm Ed Donohue. Russian President Vladimir Putin is offering a ceasefire if Ukraine withdraws troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow two years ago. Ukraine says no. NATO's Jens Stoltenberger agrees. This is not a peace proposal. This is a proposal of more aggression, more occupation. The U.S. Navy is facing its most intense combat since World War II. I don't think people really understand just kind of how deadly serious it is what we're doing. Commander Eric Blomberg and the destroyer USS Laboon are not facing a global power like Russia or China, but rather the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who have launched nearly daily attacks for months in the Red Sea. Jets from the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Laboon's firepower have scrambled to take out Houthi drones and missiles aimed at civilian vessels and warships. The U.S. and its partners are trying to both protect a vital commercial shipping lane and themselves with little margin for error. We only have to get it wrong once or the Houthis just have to get one through that we mess up and it's devastating. I'm Sagar Magani. The Supreme Court overturned a ban on bump stocks, a rapid-fire gun accessory. Vice President Kamala Harris says it's important to vote in November. Especially when one in five Americans has a family member that was killed by gun violence. When we know that gun violence is the number one cause of death of the children of America, not cancer, not car accidents, gun violence. The University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index dropped for the third month in a row, worries continue about inflation. Stocks were mixed, the Dow down 57 points. The Justice Department says it will not prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland after the House voted he was in contempt of Congress. This is AP News. This year's Hajj pilgrimage has begun. It comes as war rages in the Gaza Strip. Here's the AP's Charles D'Aladezma. Palestinians in the coastal enclave are not able to travel to Mecca this year because of the closure of the Rafa crossing in May. Amna Abu Muklak, a 75-year-old Palestinian woman from Gaza's southern city of Canunis, who'd planned to perform Hajj's year, says we're deprived of performing Hajj because the crossings closed and because of the raging wars and destruction. Israel's deprived us of everything. Palestinian authorities say 4,200 pilgrims from the occupied West Bank have arrived in Mecca for Hajj. The pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam and all Muslims are required to make the five-day Hajj at least once in their lives if they are physically and financially able to do it. I'm Charles D'Aladezma. And I'm Ed Donahue, AP News.