Heat Wave Cancels Fourth of July Events Across The U.S.

TEHRAN - Huge crowds poured into Tehran on Saturday for the first public funeral ceremonies for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose body lies in state at the Grand Mosalla mosque. Authorities say the mourning will stretch for days and draw millions. Red banners filled the courtyard, a not-so-subtle signal that this is grief with a political edge. US President Donald Trump said he expects calm during the proceedings.

LAMPEDUSA - Pope Leo XIV used a symbolic trip to Italy’s migrant gateway island on Saturday to press Europe to protect and integrate people crossing the Mediterranean. He prayed at a cemetery for those who died at sea, visited the Door of Europe memorial and said the continent can meet the “momentous challenge” with compassion and planning. He also called for help in migrants’ home countries. The message was plain. So was the target.

ST. PETERSBURG - Ukrainian drones hit an oil terminal and nearby port infrastructure in Russia’s second city overnight, local officials said. Governor Aleksandr Beglov called it a “large-scale” attack and said there were no casualties. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes targeted port oil infrastructure that funds Russia’s war. Moscow says it intercepted 389 drones nationwide. The fuel war is still getting worse.

LONDON - Prince Harry will travel to London next week without Meghan or their children, according to people close to the family. The rest of the trip is still being worked out, and they could join him outside the capital. Harry is due in the U.K. for Invictus Games events and charity appearances. Security, as ever, is doing a lot of the work here.

WASHINGTON - The United States marked its 250th birthday in Washington on Saturday with flyovers, a rally and a fireworks show billed as the biggest ever, then lightning moved in and sent thousands of spectators scrambling for shelter. The main events were still set to go on. The weather, apparently, did not get the memo.

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump used the opening weekend of the United States' 250th Independence Day celebrations to praise the military and warn of a “communist menace” he said threatens American liberty. Speaking at Mount Rushmore on the eve of July 4, he cast progressive Democrats as the danger and told supporters to defend the freedoms the founders imagined. In Washington, thunderstorms later forced evacuations at the main fireworks event. The country’s birthday came with weather, politics, and a lot of noise.

WASHINGTON - Severe storms and a brutal heat wave left nearly 1 million utility customers without power across the Midwest and Northeast, with Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and New Jersey all reporting outages Saturday. In New Jersey, trains were delayed or canceled and trees were ripped up by wind gusts near 70 mph. In Wisconsin, three people died after a boat capsized on Geneva Lake during the storm.

SAN DIEGO - Benito Miranda Hernandez, a U.S. Navy veteran who served three tours in Iraq, is now fighting deportation to Mexico. Advocates gathered Thursday outside a federal courthouse here to back him after he finished a years-long sentence for a drug conviction on June 14. Brought to the U.S. as a baby, Hernandez had hoped military service would lead to citizenship. Instead, he is in immigration detention, waiting for a system that owes him less than it promised.

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is stepping up its effort to cut red tape across the federal government, with a regulatory plan that would eliminate 702 existing administrative rules. Bloomberg reported the plan Friday. The White House is selling it as cleanup. Agencies that have to do the actual work may have a different word for it.

UTAH - Josh Okogie agreed to a two-year, $12 million deal with the Jazz on Friday, giving them a defensive wing who shot 38.5% from 3 last season in Houston. He considered multiple teams before choosing Utah, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. The 27-year-old averaged 4.5 points and 2.6 rebounds in 78 games for the Rockets, who now have another rotation hole to fill.

PHILADELPHIA - Kylian Mbappé scored a 70th-minute penalty and France beat Paraguay 1-0 in a scrappy World Cup round of 16 match on Saturday.

Paraguay spent most of the night trying to clog the middle, slow the pace and irritate everyone in sight. It almost worked. Then Désiré Doué drew the foul, VAR confirmed it, and Mbappé buried the kick. France now gets Morocco in the quarterfinals. Mbappé has seven goals in the tournament, and the chase for Messi is still on.

MEXICO CITY - Mexico’s reward for ending a 40-year knockout drought is England, and the Azteca should be a problem all by itself. El Tri have won all four matches here without conceding, and the crowd has already turned the city into a noise complaint with flags. Brazil meets Norway in the other Sunday Round of 16 tie, with Erling Haaland still very much in the mood.

PHILADELPHIA - Major League Baseball unveiled its initial All-Star rosters Saturday, and the Dodgers, Braves and Phillies each landed five players for the July 14 game at Citizens Bank Park.

Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Mike Trout headline the starters, while replacements are still coming over the next week. The roster is not finished yet, but the first pass already looks like a small-market nightmare for everyone else.

NEW YORK - Beyoncé released the long-unheard “Morning Dew (Donk)” on Saturday, her first new music since Cowboy Carter and a 60-day countdown to the B'Day reissue.

The song was originally written for her 2006 album with Pharrell Williams, The-Dream and Darius Dixon, and the new lyric video uses old footage shot by Cliff Watts. The reissue lands Sept. 4, which is also Beyoncé’s birthday. The Beyhive has had this one in the vault for years. Now it’s out.

TOKYO - After 20 years waiting tables at Paris' Cafe de Flore, Tetsuya Yamashita has opened La & Le in Minamiaoyama, a Tokyo cafe built around the same old rituals. He greets guests at the door in a sharp double-breasted suit, opening it for each arrival and departure. Yamashita was Cafe de Flore's lone non-French staff member until he returned to Japan in October 2025. The room is trying for Paris without the costume. That is harder than it sounds.

DHAKLA OASIS - Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered a well-preserved Byzantine-era city in the western desert, with streets, houses and a basilica church still visible after 1,600 years.

The fourth-century settlement in Dakhla Oasis includes north-south thoroughfares crossed by east-west streets, open squares and public spaces. Researchers also found watchtowers, thick defensive walls, coins, pottery and tools. The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry says the site offers a rare look at daily life, urban development and economic activity when Egypt was part of the Byzantine empire. Tourism officials will take the publicity, too. The country needs it.