Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kristen Wright.
President Trump posted online this morning that the U.S. is reinstating a blockade on Iran
“in the state of Hormuz and will charge a 20% reimbursement or toll on all cargo shipped.”
The president says this is to compensate the U.S. for providing safety and security. And PR's Hadeel Alshalci reports on the latest wave of strikes. U.S. central command released a statement saying, quote, "The straight of Hormuz is a vital maritime corridor for global trade. Iran does not control it." The U.S. said it struck dozens of Iranian targets with precision munitions, claiming
a degraded Iran's ability to continue attacking international shipping through the straight of Hormuz. Iran did not respond to that claim but said that one person was killed in the U.S. strikes over the weekend, bringing the total number of deaths to 17 since these recent strikes began according to Iranian officials.
Iran also said it targeted U.S. bases in Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait.
The status of the ceasefire negotiations is unknown right now with President Trump calling
the ceasefire over but not ruling out further talks with Iran. Hadeel Alshalci, MPR News, Istanbul.
“The World Cup has led to the strongest consumer spending in June over the last four years”
in the U.S., according to credit and debit card spending data from Bank of America. PPR Steven Basaha says online sales also contributed. Consumer spending rose 6.3% in June from a year earlier. Part of that is because online sales, like Amazon's Prime Day, were a month earlier than last year.
And then there's the World Cup, spending at restaurants and bars was up especially in host cities. And even beyond these one-off events, the Bank of America Institute's Senior Economist David Tensley says consumers are firing on all cylinders. That's right, I mean, we've had good spending growth in the economy really since the start
of the year. But that spending could slow down after the World Cup. Part of that is because despite wage growth being strong, consumer spending is rising faster than people's earnings. Steven Basaha and PPR News.
The Red Cross is declaring a national blood emergency citing a sharp drop in donations and peer to Rob Steine reports. Plud donations have been falling since the end of May, causing the national blood supply to drop by about 25% by the end of June. Blood donations often decline this time of year because regular routines get disrupted by
some retrieval and blood drives that places like schools and colleges go on hiatus. At the same time, demand for blood increases because of a spike in injuries from car crashes and more people participating in activities like biking, hiking and boating.
“And that's what's happening again this year.”
The Red Cross says there's a deficit of about 3,500 units of blood each week, Rob Steine and PPR News. This is NPR. The United Kingdom's government has issued fresh heat health warnings as record high temperatures continue in Europe and PPR's law and frayer reports from London.
It's the first time the UK has logged 95 degree temperatures in May, June and July of the
same year. Last month was England's hottest June on record. Scientists at two London universities say they've linked more than 2,700 deaths to this heat wave in May and June in England and Wales. This a climate change is making heat waves more intense, frequent and deadly.
Most of those deaths were from heart attack strokes or respiratory failure as the body strains to cool itself. Many British homes aren't built to cope either. Air conditioning is uncommon even in schools and most are still in session through late July.
Meanwhile wildfires are prompting evacuations in north Wales and in parts of England. Lauren Freyer and PPR News London. The death of Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is a sudden shift in the U.S. Congress. The Republican served in the Senate for more than 20 years and was running for reelection.
South Carolina's GOP Governor will appoint someone to serve in the seat for the rest of the year. In August, a special Republican primary will decide on a candidate to run against Democrat Annie Andrews in November. The winner of that race will be sworn in as Senator in January.
Graham died unexpectedly Saturday that chief medical examiner says most likely from an aortic tear caused by heart disease. Lindsey Graham was 71. I'm Kristen Wright and PR News from Washington. Support for NPR.
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