News Wrap: Earth sees hottest July ever recorded in human history

John Yang:

Good evening, I'm John Yang. The summer of 2023 has become the summer of superlatives. Scientists say the first two weeks of July were the Earth's hottest on human record. In the southwestern United States, Phoenix has never been this hot for this long, and the heat has spread to places like Boise, Idaho, where today's high is forecast to be above 100 degrees.

Across the southeast, a new wave of heat and humidity will make it feel as hot as 115 degrees in some places. More than 90 million Americans are under heat alerts.

And in Europe, Greek firefighters are battling dozens of wildfires as an intensifying heatwave stretching from Spain to Greece is setting records there.

Ukrainian officials say its drones hit an ammunition depot early today in the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula. It forced evacuations and the brief closure of a key bridge connecting Crimea and the Russian mainland.

It was the latest in a series of aerial assaults from both sides. It began Monday when Ukraine blew up two sections of that 12 mile long bridge, which is a crucial Russian supply line. Two people were killed.

Then came days of deadly Russian barrages against Ukrainian ports. Moscow pulled out of a deal to allow safe passage through the Black Sea of ships carrying Ukrainian grain, which is crucial to the world's food supply.

And the U.S. women's soccer team beat Vietnam three nil in its first game of this year's World Cup. Forwards Sofia Smith had two goals and an assist in her first World Cup game. And in its first World Cup game, Haiti narrowly lost the European champion England, one nil. Haiti qualified for the first time this year despite not having any sponsors or playing any home games because of the turmoil and violence there.

Still to come on PBS News Weekend, pay equity and the Women's World Cup and a disabilities advocate Brief But Spectacular take on learning differently.