News Wrap: Deadly clashes continue for fourth day in western Syria

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• John Yang:

  In other news, a fourth day of deadly clashes in western Syria is testing the country`s new leadership. Government security forces are fighting gunmen loyal to ousted President Bashar al Assad. But human rights groups say hundreds of civilians, including members of the Alawite minority that was Assad`s base of support have been victims of revenge killings.

  In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States stands with Syria`s religious and ethnic minorities and offers its condolences to the victims and their families. Syria`s interim president called for peace and said the killings would be investigated.

  Israel says it`s cutting off the electricity it sends to Gaza. Gaza`s plants that produce drinking water from seawater are powered by electricity. Israel`s already stopped all goods and aid from entering the territory.

  Israel is pressing Hamas to extend the first phase of the ceasefire that ended last weekend. Hamas is pushing to start phase two negotiations. Neither side`s budged, but Israel says it`s sending negotiators to Qatar on Monday to continue talks.

  In Washington, Secret Service officers shot a man brandishing a gun near the White House early this morning. The agency said. The suspect is believed to have been suicidal and to have traveled from Indiana. He was taken to a hospital. His condition`s not known. No Secret Service officers were injured. Mr. Trump`s been at Mar-a-Lago since Friday evening.

  And this weekend marks 60 years since state troopers brutally attacked civil rights marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. It came to be known as Bloody Sunday.

  Pictures of the day`s violence shocked the nation and stirred support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Supreme Court rulings over the last dozen years have gutted key parts of that law. This past week, Democratic Congresswoman Terry Sewell of Alabama introduced a bill to restore some of those provisions. The measure hasn`t drawn any support from Republicans who control the House.

  Still to come on PBS, Newsweek the enduring impact of the COVID-19 pandemic five years later and centuries after their extinction, beavers return to the wild in England.