AP Top News at 4:08 a.m. EDT
A massive Russian drone-and-missile attack on Ukraine kills at least 12 people, officials say
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A massive Russian drone-and-missile attack targeted the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other regions in the country for a second consecutive night, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens, officials said early Sunday. The scale of the onslaught was stunning — Russia hit Ukraine with 367 drones and missiles, making this the largest single attack of the more than three-years-long war, according to Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Force. In all, Russia used 69 missiles of various types and 298 drones, including Iranian-designed Shahed drones, he told The Associated Press. It was “the most massive strike in terms of the number of air attack weapons on the territory of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022,” Ihnat said.
Trump’s speech to West Point graduates mixes praise, politics and grievances
WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — President Donald Trump used the first service academy commencement address of his second term Saturday to laud graduating West Point cadets for their accomplishments and career choice while also veering sharply into a campaign-style recitation of political boasts and long-held grievances. “In a few moments, you’ll become graduates of the most elite and storied military academy in human history,” Trump said at the ceremony at Michie Stadium. “And you will become officers of the greatest and most powerful army the world has ever known. And I know, because I rebuilt that army, and I rebuilt the military.
9 of a doctor’s 10 children are killed in Israel’s latest strikes in Gaza
CAIRO (AP) — The bodies of 79 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours, Gaza ‘s Health Ministry said Saturday, a toll that doesn’t include hospitals in the battered north that it said are now inaccessible. Nine of a doctor’s 10 children were among those killed in Israel’s renewed military offensive, colleagues and the Health Ministry said. Alaa Najjar, a pediatrician at Nasser Hospital, was on duty at the time and ran home to find her family’s house on fire, Ahmad al-Farra, head of the hospital’s pediatric department, told The Associated Press. Najjar’s husband was severely wounded and their only surviving child, an 11-year-old son, was in critical condition after Friday’s strike in the southern city of Khan Younis, Farra said.
Cannes awards Palme d’Or to Iranian revenge drama ‘It Was Just an Accident’
Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for his revenge thriller “It Was Just an Accident,” handing the festival’s top prize to a director who had been banned from leaving Iran for more than 15 years. Cate Blanchett presented the award to Panahi, who three years ago was imprisoned in Iran before going on a hunger strike. For a decade and a half, he has made films clandestinely in his native country, including one film (“This Is Not a Film”) made in his living room, and another (“Taxi”) set in a car.
Arson suspected as power outage in southeast France disrupts final day of Cannes Film Festival
CANNES, France (AP) — French authorities believe arson may have played a role in a power outage Saturday in southeast France that threatened to jeopardize the Cannes Film Festival’s closing celebrations, including the much-anticipated Palme d’Or ceremony. Power was restored hours before the ceremony, around 3 p.m. local time, as music began blasting again from beachfront speakers. The end of the blackout was greeted with loud cheers from locals. Authorities were investigating the likelihood of arson in a fire at an electrical substation near Cannes that weakened the grid overnight, a spokesperson for the French national gendarmerie said. The power outage happened hours later, after a high-voltage line fell at another location.
Israeli use of human shields in Gaza was systematic, soldiers and former detainees tell the AP
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The only time the Palestinian man wasn’t bound or blindfolded, he said, was when he was used by Israeli soldiers as their human shield. Dressed in army fatigues with a camera fixed to his forehead, Ayman Abu Hamadan was forced into houses in the Gaza Strip to make sure they were clear of bombs and gunmen, he said. When one unit finished with him, he was passed to the next. “They beat me and told me: ‘You have no other option; do this or we’ll kill you,’” the 36-year-old told The Associated Press, describing the 2 1/2 weeks he was held last summer by the Israeli military in northern Gaza.
You should wear sunscreen even if you have darker skin. Here’s why
NEW YORK (AP) — People with darker skin still need to wear sunscreen — for more reasons than one. Too much ultraviolet exposure from the sun can lead to sunburn, dark spots and wrinkles, and increased risk of skin cancer. The melanin in darker skin offers some extra protection from the sun, but dermatologists say that isn’t enough on its own. “Everyone needs sunscreen. But the reasons that one might be reaching for sunscreen may differ depending on your skin tone,” said Dr. Jenna Lester, who founded the Skin of Color Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco. White people are overall more likely to get skin cancer compared to Black and Hispanic people.
A stabbing at Hamburg’s central train station causes multiple injuries. A woman is arrested
BERLIN (AP) — A stabbing attack at the busy central train station in the German city of Hamburg left multiple people injured, some of them in life-threatening condition, authorities said. A woman was arrested as the suspect. The attacker targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14 in the station at around 6 p.m., according to police. The station in downtown Hamburg, Germany’s second-biggest city, is a major hub for local, regional and long-distance trains. Police said that “several” people had life-threatening injuries, but didn’t give specific figures. Late Friday evening, Hamburg’s fire service said that 17 people were hurt in total — four of them with life-threatening injuries, another six with serious injuries and seven with light injuries, German news agency dpa reported.
Music talent agent among dead after jet crashes into San Diego neighborhood
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A private jet carrying a music talent agent and five others hit a power line in foggy weather early Thursday and crashed into a San Diego neighborhood, slamming into a home and killing multiple people on the flight. With the home engulfed in flames and jet fuel rolling down the streets, half a dozen vehicles ignited while residents in the neighborhood of U.S. Navy-owned housing were shaken awake just before 4 a.m. by the thunderous crash and subsequent explosions. Out their windows, they saw a wall of fire. “I can’t quite put words to describe what the scene looks like, but with the jet fuel going down the street, and everything on fire all at once, it was pretty horrific to see,” San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said.
Ex-Minneapolis police chief recalls ‘absolutely gut-wrenching’ moment of seeing George Floyd video
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo vividly remembers receiving a call around midnight from a community activist. The caller told him to watch a video spreading on social media of a white officer pinning a Black man to the ground, despite his fading pleas of “I can’t breathe.” The dying man was George Floyd. The officer was Derek Chauvin. And Arradondo was the city’s first Black police chief. “It was absolutely gut-wrenching,” Arradondo, 58, recalled in an interview ahead of the fifth anniversary of Floyd’s murder. What he saw conflicted with what his own people had told him about the deadly encounter, and he knew immediately it would mean changes for his department and city.