U.S. and world news for July 8

Ukraine Children’s Hospital: At least 20 are dead and 50 injured after Russian missile strikes targeting Kyiv landed during rush hour on July 8. Among the buildings hit was Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital, the largest in the country. Residential buildings were also struck. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted the response of civilians ranging from residents of buildings that were struck to doctors to drop everything and take care of the injured.

Gaza Death Toll: The Lancet Medical Journal published an article highlighting both the necessity  difficulty of fully accounting for deaths in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli campaign against Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 terror attack. It noted that 37,396 people were confirmed killed by trusted reporting, including tens of thousands of women and children, but that the destruction of many buildings has likely hidden many bodies. Additionally, many fatalities are likely occurring due to the strained medical system, leading the authors to estimate an upper range for the total death toll at 186,000.

Beryl Hits Texas: Hurricane Beryl, after causing extensive damage in the Caribbean has made landfall in Texas early this morning after regaining strength to become a Category One hurricane. The earliest ever recorded Category Five storm in the Atlantic, the storm has already knocked out power to more than one million Texans and caused extensive flooding in Galveston which saw storm surges of up to 5 feet.

Biden Stays: President Joe Biden sent a letter to Democrats on Capitol Hill declaring his intention to stay in the presidential race on Monday morning. “I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump,” the letter reads. After lackluster debate performance against Republican candidate Donald Trump a number of Biden’s party members either questioned his fitness for the role or openly called for him to step aside in favor of another nominee.

Surprise Victory for French Left: On Sunday night the New Popular Front, a left-wing coalition founded specifically to counter the far-right National Rally lead by Marine Le Pen had a surprise victory, coming out ahead even of current president Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble and barring the Rally from national power. Macron had called the election after a surprise right-wing surge in the European Parliament. The Front wound up with 182 seats in the national assembly, the Ensemble with 163, and the Rally with 143 despite a lead in the first round of votes.