News Wrap: Boston declares heat emergency and opens cooling centers

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• Geoff Bennett:

  In the day's headlines: The summer's latest heat wave spread its sweltering grip across New England. Boston declared a heat emergency and opened cooling centers.

  Some schools with no air conditioning in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire closed or sent students home early. They also cut back after-school activities. Earlier this week, the heat wave also disrupted schools from Michigan to Virginia.

  Floodwaters began receding in parts of Central Greece today after three days of record downpours. Dozens of villages have been inundated, with at least 10 people killed and 2,500 rescued so far. Even today, there were new evacuations, and flood victims faced a new reality.

• Haralampos Tsergas (Greece Resident):

  Tragic disaster, misery, pain, sorrow. Such a tragedy. We will suffer for a very long time. The damage to our homes is irreparable. A lifetime's worth of work was lost within two hours. It is completely destroyed.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Meantime, record rain in Hong Kong caused by a typhoon is blamed for two deaths, with hundreds of people forced to flee. Officials say a quarter of the city's average annual rainfall fell in a single hour, triggering severe flooding and landslides.

  Hurricane Lee has weakened slightly tonight after briefly becoming this year's first Category 5 storm in the Atlantic. It's still swirling over open waters off the Northern Leeward Islands, on a track to pass north of the Caribbean region this weekend. The storm's path after the middle of next week remains unclear.

  In Ukraine, Russian missiles rained down on multiple cities again overnight, killing at least four civilians and injuring dozens. The attacks badly damaged 10 buildings President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown. Officials said one person died and more than 70 were wounded.

  Also today, voters in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine begin voting in local elections. They are meant to strengthen Moscow's grip on regions it illegally annexed.

  The U.N. children's agency is warning that record numbers of migrant children are trying to cross Latin America and the Caribbean, headed for the U.S. UNICEF says the numbers making the dangerous trek have doubled this year. It says many are under 11 years old and often traveling alone from places in Asia and Africa.

• Laurent Duvllier, UNICEF:

  Well, UNICEF is extremely concerned because, in the first eight months of this year, over 60,000 children have crossed the Darien jungle between Colombia and Panama. This is the highest number of migrant children crossing the Darien jungle ever recorded.

• Geoff Bennett:

  UNICEF attributes the spike to rising violence, climate change and increasing poverty in the home countries of migrant children.

  Spanish prosecutors accused soccer executive Luis Rubiales today of sexual assault and coercion. They say he kissed Spanish player Jenni Hermoso on the lips without her consent after the national team won the World Cup. The incident has sparked protests across Spain, and Rubiales has been suspended. He could get up to four years in prison if he's convicted.

  Back in this country, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she will seek reelection to represent her San Francisco district in 2024. In a social media post, the veteran Democrat wrote — quote — "Now, more than ever, our city needs us to advance San Francisco values and further our recovery."

  Pelosi is 83. She's been in Congress since 1987 and stepped last year down as House speaker.

  The IRS is gearing up to go after 1,600 millionaires who owe hundreds of millions of dollars in back taxes. The tax agency announced today it's targeting people who owe at least $250,000 and also looking at 75 large business partnerships. The push follows a mass hiring effort with new funding from the Biden administration.

  And on Wall Street, stocks closed slightly higher, despite renewed worries about interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 75 points to close at 34576. The Nasdaq rose 12 points. The S&P 500 added six.

  And still to come on the "NewsHour": Mexico becomes the latest country in Latin America to loosen restrictions on abortion; nursing homes push back on new federal staffing requirements; and David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart weigh in on the week's political headlines.