10 things you need to know today: July 18, 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin sits at a table with his hands crossed

Putin called the attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge bridge a 'terrorist act'

(Image credit: ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/SPUTNIK / AFP via Getty Images)

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1. No Labels unveils plan for 3rd-party presidential ticket by Super Tuesday
2. Putin vows Russian response to 'terrorist' attack on key bridge
3. Southwest heat intensifies as Phoenix temperatures set records
4. Georgia Supreme Court rejects Trump call to block investigation
5. UN, US denounce Russia for halting Ukraine grain export deal
6. Dem watchdog group calls for House committee to disinvite RFK Jr.
7. Police search storage units after Gilgo Beach serial killings suspect's arrest
8. Judge temporarily blocks Iowa's 6-week abortion ban
9. Australian sailor rescued after 2 months adrift in Pacific
10. Taylor Swift sets Billboard records

By Harold Maass, The Week US

published 18 July 2023

1. No Labels unveils plan for 3rd-party presidential ticket by Super Tuesday

The centrist group No Labels on Monday announced it would put forward a 2024 presidential candidate by Super Tuesday to offer voters a third choice if it's clear President Biden and former President Donald Trump will be the Democrats' and Republicans' respective nominees. The group hedged the statement further by saying it would present a ticket only if there was public support for an alternative candidate. Democrats reportedly are increasingly concerned a third-party candidate would siphon off votes from Biden. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a centrist Democrat, co-headlined the town hall event where the group made the announcement, but said: "I've never been in any race to spoil. I get into races to win."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia was preparing a response to an apparent Ukrainian drone attack that forced the suspension of traffic across a key bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine that Russia seized and annexed in 2014. The attack on the 12-mile Kerch Strait Bridge, which Russia uses to resupply troops in Crimea, killed two people and injured their daughter. The attack on the bridge, which Putin called a "terrorist act," intensified criticism of Russia's military leadership, which already was facing heat over its handling of Russia's invasion of Ukraine after a brief mutiny by Wagner Group mercenaries considered some of Russia's best fighters.

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The Southwest continued to bake Monday under a record-setting heat wave affecting most of the Northern Hemisphere. Phoenix had a low temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit at Sky Harbor Airport, breaking the previous record for the hottest low of 93 degrees set in 2003. The city also had a record eighth straight day with low temperatures above 90. On Tuesday, the city also is expected to set a record for major American cities with its 19 consecutive day with a high temperature above 110 degrees, and forecasters say the area will continue to see highs of 115 to 118 degrees through this weekend. Tourists flocked to California's Death Valley to experience some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded on Earth.

The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday unanimously rejected a push by former President Donald Trump's lawyers to block Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' (D) investigation of Trump's attempt to overturn President Biden's 2020 election win in the state. The nine justices swiftly denied a Friday request by Trump's legal team to discard the work of an Atlanta grand jury and bar Willis from the proceedings. The court's nine justices, most of them originally appointed by Republican governors, swiftly denied the motion, saying Trump's lawyers hadn't presented "either the facts or the law necessary to mandate Willis's disqualification."

World leaders reacted harshly on Monday to Russia's decision to end a United Nations-brokered deal that let Ukraine export its grain through the Black Sea. "Today's decision by the Russian Federation will strike a blow to people in need everywhere," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, indicating that Russia's decision would force the suspension of a parallel pact to help Moscow export its grain and fertilizer. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Russia's move unconscionable, and the White House said it "will worsen food security and harm millions." Moscow said it might revive the grain deal if it got "concrete results" on its demands to protect Russian interests.

A Democratic watchdog group, the Congressional Integrity Project, has sent a letter urging a House committee to withdraw its invitation to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to participate in a Thursday hearing after a video surfaced in which the Democratic presidential candidate repeated racially tinged conspiracy theories about the coronavirus. Kennedy, the son of slain former senator and attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, was recorded suggesting Covid-19 could have been "ethnically targeted" to attack white and Black people but spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. A spokesperson for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chair of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, said the lawmaker disagrees with Kennedy's comments but will proceed with the hearing as planned.

Detectives on New York's Long Island executed search warrants on Sunday and Monday at two storage facilities near the house of architect Rex Heuermann, who was arrested late last week and charged in a series of murders known as the Gilgo Beach killings. Police are using DNA evidence and other clues they are finding to determine whether Heuermann is linked to other cold cases. Heuermann pleaded not guilty Friday to the murders of three of the 11 women whose remains were buried along a remote beach highway in 2010 and 2011.

A judge on Monday temporarily blocked Iowa's new six-week abortion ban, making the procedure legal again in the state until 22 weeks. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) signed the measure into law on Friday, and it was immediately challenged in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and several abortion providers. Opponents told Polk County District Court Judge Joseph Seidlin the ban violates the state's constitution; supporters said it protects the rights of "the unborn." Seidlin said the case was "complex and sensitive," and that putting the ban on hold pending hearings on the challenge "recognizes that there are good, honorable and intelligent people — morally, politically and legally — on both sides of this upsetting societal and constitutional dilemma."

An Australian sailor, Tim Shaddock, was rescued at sea along with his dog, Bella, after more than two months drifting at sea. Rough seas damaged Shaddock's boat and knocked out his electronics system as he sailed from Mexico to French Polynesia, leaving him adrift and unable to make a distress call. Shaddock, 51, said he and Bella survived on rain water and raw fish until a helicopter accompanying a tuna trawler spotted them in the Pacific Ocean. The trawler's crew rescued them. Both were in good health. "I'm just needing rest and good food," Shaddock said.

Taylor Swift's re-recorded version of her 2010 album "Speak Now" debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Swift has now pulled ahead of Barbra Streisand to set the record for the most number one albums for a female singer, with 12. Swift also is the first woman to have four albums in the top 10 at the same time, with "Speak Now" joining "Midnights," "Lover," and "Folklore" in the top 10. The last living artist with four top 10 albums simultaneously was Herb Alpert in 1966. Prince had five albums in the top 10 at the same time after his death in 2016.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.