NICE, France (AP) — France was ravaged by its third attack in two years when a large white truck mowed through revelers gathered for Bastille Day fireworks in Nice, killing at least 84 people as it bore down on the crowd for more than a mile along the Riviera city’s famed seaside promenade. The attack Thursday night on France’s national holiday rocked a nation still dealing with the aftermath of attacks in November in Paris that killed 130 and in January 2015 that killed 17. Police killed the driver “apparently after an exchange of gunfire.”
————————————————————————————————————————
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the government is declaring three days of national mourning after the attack in Nice that left at least 84 people dead. Speaking after an emergency meeting, Valls said the national mourning would begin Saturday. He confirmed that a measure extending the country’s state of emergency would go before lawmakers next week.
German police say they’re stepping up border checks on the French frontier following the attack in Nice. Federal police said Thursday that they had increased checks at land borders and railway crossings with France, and at airports. They would not give further details, but said the move was made in consultation with France.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump tells Fox News if he’s elected president he would ask Congress to declare war on the Islamic State. It’s not yet clear who was behind the attack in France. Hillary Clinton says, “We will not be intimidated.”
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump abruptly postponed plans to announce his vice presidential pick after the attack that left scores dead in Nice, France, a decision that raised questions about Trump’s selection process. The presumptive GOP nominee had planned to introduce his running mate at a news conference Friday morning in New York. But Trump said on Twitter Thursday evening that he would be postponing the event “in light of the horrible attack.”
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore police say officers responding to gunshots near an apartment building fatally shot a man who fired at them with an “AR-15-style” weapon, and no officers were wounded. Police spokesman T.J. Smith said it’s unclear why the man began shooting late Thursday, adding no one came forward to say they were being “shot at.” Authorities didn’t immediately identify the man. Smith said early Friday that four plainclothes officers in an unmarked car heard gunfire coming from the building on the city’s west side Thursday night. He says officers drove toward the sound and when they arrived, they saw a man shooting an “AR15-style” gun. Smith says the man started firing toward the officers, and two returned fire with the suspect being struck at least once.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that Hillary Clinton enters the summer damaged by perceptions that she violated the law by using a private email system while serving as secretary of state. More than half of Americans think the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee broke the law in using a private email account and server at the State Department. The poll shows that nearly 4 in 10 think she did so intentionally. Clinton has battled against perceptions that she is dishonest and purposely set up the private email server to avoid public scrutiny.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
WASHINGTON (AP) — It would take almost 14 straight days to watch all the feel-good Hillary Clinton television ads that have aired since the general election campaign began last month. Meanwhile, anyone flipping through the channels looking for positive ads about Donald Trump would be disappointed: He hasn’t yet put up a spot appealing to November voters. The lopsided commercial airwaves show the two presidential candidates have drastically different views of the importance of traditional political campaigning. Clinton’s large batch of biographical ads has given her an opportunity to influence views about her own image.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
MIAMI (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that the state of Florida cannot use potential budget problems to deny thousands of prison inmates kosher meals they request for religious reasons. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided Thursday with the Justice Department and against the Florida Department of Corrections.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The families of the victims slain at the Pulse nightclub will get the most money from a fund established to help the victims’ families and survivors of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. A proposal on how to distribute the money was released Thursday by Kenneth Feinberg, the OneOrlando Fund’s administrator. The fund has at least $17 million. The exact amount each family will get is to be determined by how much is raised by Sept. 26. The proposal creates four classes for distributing the funds: families of deceased victims, people hospitalized for more than one night, people injured but not needing overnight hospitalization and patrons who were not hurt.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Oil giant BP PLC has put a final price tag on what its catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill cost the company, and it’s a hefty sum: $61.6 billion. The company issued the estimate Thursday, the first time it has put a total cost on the catastrophe.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A man called the “prison Houdini” has a path to freedom after Florida’s parole commission voted to release him this month, 36 years after he was arrested for stealing the tools his father bequeathed to him. Florida’s parole board voted Thursday to parole Mark DeFriest on July 26.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
NEW YORK (AP) _ Mick Jagger can get some satisfaction — the rock legend is going to be a dad again. Jagger, who is 72, is expecting a baby with his 29-year-old girlfriend. Melanie Hamrick is a New York ballerina, while Jagger is a grandpa of two. The Rolling Stones frontman already has seven kids, ranging in age from 17 to 45. In May, fellow Rolling Stone Ron Wood became a father again at 68. His wife, Sally Humphreys, gave birth to twin girls.
