News Wrap: Russia’s assault on Ukraine’s cities kills scores of civilians

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• Amna Nawaz:

  Today has been the hottest day ever recorded in Britain. The country baked under superheated air that sparked fires, buckled train tracks and touched off a torrent of emergency calls.

  As Stephanie Sy reports, it is part of a larger weather emergency that has lasted for days.

• Stephanie Sy:

  A scorching heat wave continues to engulf Europe, smashing high temperature records. In the U.K. Tuesday, the mercury hit 104.5 degrees, beating a record set in 2019. As the heat wave moved north to Germany, residents sought ways to stay cool.

• Matthias Doellinger, Frankfurt Resident (through translator):

  Up until the early afternoon, the pool is quite pleasant, especially with small kids. But once it gets too hot, we're going home.

• Stephanie Sy:

  But most homes in Europe don't have air conditioning, which makes the heat more dangerous. Officials have tallied more than 1,000 heat-related deaths so far in Portugal alone.

  Another danger, fire. Flames from a grass fire consumed homes in a suburb of London. In France, 39,000 people have been forced to evacuate, as firefighters struggle to put out wildfires in shifting winds. In Spain, wildfires have spread frighteningly close to railways. This video was captured by a passenger.

  Europe has been experiencing more excessive heat waves in recent years, evidence, experts say, of climate change. The high temperatures are coupled with a lack of water. The Rhine River, a key artery for shipping in Europe, is at its lowest level in 15 years. In Italy, the dry heat has turned swamps and marshes into hard, cracked land.

  U.N. officials say these unprecedented temperatures should be a wakeup call for government action.

• Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General, World Meteorological Organization:

  In the future, this kind of heat waves are going to be normal and we will see even stronger extremes.

• Stephanie Sy:

  For now, forecasters say the heat will only continue to get worse, possibly not subsiding until the middle of next week.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy.

• Amna Nawaz:

  High heat also kept much of the U.S. broiling today. Heat alerts will affect nearly one-third of the nation's population through tomorrow.

  In Ukraine, Russian forces kept up a fearsome barrage, targeting cities in the south and east and killing scores of civilians. The attacks came as Moscow declared that peace would come only on its terms. In the port city of Odessa, firefighters scrambled to douse flames ignited by shelling overnight. Ukrainian officials said Russia's long-distance assault has escalated as its ground campaign has stalled.

  Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Iran amid U.S. warnings he wants to buy military drones to use in Ukraine. Putin met with Iran's president and its supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. State TV quoted Khamenei as warning against — quote — "Western deception." Putin met separately with Turkey's President Erdogan, also in Tehran.

  On the pandemic, the World Health Organization is out with a new warning about super-infectious subvariants. The agency says cases in Europe have tripled in the past six weeks and hospitalization rates have doubled. In Belgium today, the WHO's European director said the new outbreaks will get worse in the fall and winter.

• Dr. Hans Kluge, World Health Organization:

  The virus has never gone away. People sometimes ask, is the virus back? It has never gone away. It's still there. It's spreading. It is mutating.

  And, unfortunately, it's still taking a lot of lives. Last week alone, in our region, 3,000 people, sadly, passed away.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Also today, a CDC panel recommended approving a COVID-19 vaccine from Novavax for everyone over the age of 18. This would be the fourth vaccine approved for use in the United States.

  A federal jury in Washington heard opening statements today in Steve Bannon's trial for contempt of Congress. Prosecutors said the former Trump adviser decided he was above the law when he defied a subpoena by the January 6 committee. The defense said Bannon believed the committee's deadlines were negotiable. He has pleaded innocent to two misdemeanor counts.

  The National Archives is asking the Secret Service to investigate apparent deletions of January 6 text messages. The missing texts could help fill in gaps in Secret Service accounts. The agency has denied any malicious intent. It says the data was lost during a long-planned update of mobile devices.

  The U.S. House of Representatives today approved protections for same-sex and interracial marriages. Democrats argued that the Supreme Court, after rolling back abortion rights, may be willing to go further, but Republicans dismissed that fear. The debate largely focused on whether any legislative action is needed.

• Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH):

  Today, the Democrats bring forward a bill that is completely unnecessary. Why are the Democrats going down this path? Because, frankly, they have nothing else.

• Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI):

  To Mr. Jordan's suggestion that this is unnecessary, tell that to the millions of LGBTQ families that are worried about the Supreme Court's intention to rip away more freedom.

• Amna Nawaz:

  The House plans to vote later this week on safeguarding access to contraception. All of the bills face uncertain prospects in the evenly divided Senate.

  And on Wall Street, upbeat corporate earnings reports boosted stocks to their best day in three weeks, with leading indexes up 2 percent to 3 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 754 points to close at 31827. The Nasdaq jumped 353 points. And the S&P 500 was up 105.

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