Scranton Times-Tribune

LONDON (AP) — The last woman to be executed in Britain, for gunning down her abusive lover outside a London pub more than 70 years ago, has been posthumously granted a conditional pardon, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said Wednesday. Ruth Ellis, a 28-year-old single mother and nightclub hostess, was hanged on July 13, 1955, for the murder of race-car driver David Blakely. She shot him outside the Magdala pub in the Hampstead neighborhood on April 10, 1955.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Rahm Emanuel, a potential Democratic presidential candidate and longtime defender of Israel, warned Wednesday that the country has become increasingly isolated as its leadership has turned it into a “territorial pariah,” in a speech at Tel Aviv University on Wednesday. Emanuel’s condemnation of Israel’s leadership shows how far centrist Democrats have shifted away from historic support of Israel, three years after the war in Gaza began.

Editor: July 4 marks the one-year anniversary of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” act. This bill gutted healthcare for millions of Americans with its nearly $1 trillion of cuts to Medicaid including an estimated $20 billion in cuts to hospitals. Some hospitals may be forced to close because of these cuts. The bill also slashed SNAP benefits for millions more ripping away food assistance from children and families.

BROOKSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Even as the sun started to set, the day’s heat was still hanging in the air as Annie Woods walked back out to harvest squash and zucchini on her 50-acre farm. Prolonged and intense heat is part of a climate change-driven pattern of weather extremes that has also led to intense flooding and prolonged drought. For farmers, this means shorter planting windows and potential loss of crops because of periods of early-season heat followed by a freeze.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of sexual violence. If you or someone you know needs help, please call 1-800-656-4673 in the U.S., 116 016 in Germany or 15117905157 in China. BERLIN (AP) — They called themselves the “German driving school for experts,” but prosecutors say the true purpose of their Telegram chats was to brag about the women they raped and share tips about how to drug them.

By The Associated Press The Kremlin has welcomed as an “important step” the International Olympic Committee’s decision to remove many of its restrictions on Russia, a big step closer to letting it field a full team when Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Games. The IOC provisionally lifted a suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and advised Olympic sports bodies they no longer need to be vetting its athletes for permission to compete as neutrals.

Glancing at the world in 2026, I wouldn’t exactly say that humanity is raising consciousness. Except in one sense: Some scientists and philosophers are, in incremental baby steps, coming closer to understanding what consciousness even is. And as I discovered while talking to the co-authors of a groundbreaking study released last week, the implications are mind-boggling.

In the U.S. Supreme Court’s most anticipated case of its now concluded term, the justices ruled last week that President Donald Trump cannot unilaterally end birthright citizenship protections enshrined in the 14th Amendment. What should have been beyond debate instead survived by a single vote.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike on Gaza just before the kickoff of the Egypt-Argentina World Cup match killed a top Palestinian aid official who helped organize public screenings of the game across the enclave, according to local health officials.

NEW YORK (AP) — After four years in exile, the prediction market platform Polymarket has begun a well-funded campaign to sell a new version of itself to the American public. To do so, the company is trying to convince policymakers, regulators, the public and prospective customers that the business it is building onshore is a more disciplined operation than the freewheeling offshore exchange that has at times been the subject of unfavorable headlines.