Climate change's link to heat waves and Carlee Russell admits hoax: Morning Rundown

An Alabama woman admits her kidnapping claim was a hoax. China's foreign minister is removed from his post — and hasn't been seen for a month. And a Tennessee student accuses his school district of violating his First Amendment right to make memes.

Here’s what to know today.

Extreme weather scientists say heat waves undoubtedly linked to climate change

A group of scientists who study extreme weather have a warning: The heat waves baking the southwest United States and southern Europe are just the beginning. 

In fact, the likelihood of extreme temperatures has increased so significantly that heat waves as powerful as those setting records in places like Phoenix, Catalonia and in China’s Xinjiang region this July could be expected once every 15 years in the U.S., once every 10 in southern Europe and once every five in China, the research found.

“The role of climate change is absolutely overwhelming,” said climate scientist Friederike Otto, who contributed to the new research, which was published Tuesday by the World Weather Attribution group. 

“This is not the new normal, as long as we keep burning fossil fuels. As long as we keep burning fossil fuels, we will see more and more of these extremes,” Otto said.

Reporter Evan Bush has more on the research here.

China’s missing foreign minister is replaced — but still hasn't been seen in a month

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has been removed from his post, state media reported Tuesday, deepening a mystery that began a month ago when the prominent diplomat disappeared from public view. Qin was last seen in public on June 25 in Beijing, and missed a series of important meetings this month due to what the Chinese Foreign Ministry said was an unspecified health issue.

According to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, he has been replaced by Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat and Qin’s predecessor.

No reason was given for the removal.

Regarded as a fast-rising protégé to President Xi Jinping, Qin, 57, was China’s ambassador to the United States from July 2021 until he was promoted to foreign minister in December. Qin was an early adopter of the combative rhetoric later known as China’s “wolf warrior diplomacy.”

‘There was no kidnapping,’ Carlee Russell admits after nationwide search

Carlee Russell did not see a toddler wandering on the side of the highway. She was not kidnapped. She had not even left the Hoover, Alabama, area. 

The 25-year-old nursing student admitted to lying about being kidnapped in a hoax that set off a nationwide effort to find her, her attorney said. Yesterday’s confession statement also included an apology from Russell “for her actions to this community, to the volunteers who were searching for her, to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies as well.”

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The police department is consulting with the district attorney’s office regarding any potential criminal charges. They’re also trying to figure out where Russell was in the 49 hours she was supposedly missing.

Greg Abbott sued over Rio Grande barrier

The Justice Department on Monday filed a lawsuit against Texas and its Republican governor for placing buoys in the Rio Grande as part of the state’s effort to deter migrants from crossing into the United States.

The civil suit said Gov. Greg Abbott violated federal law by installing the barrier and asked a judge to order the defendants to “promptly remove the unauthorized obstruction” at their own expense.

Former Giuliani colleague hands over docs in special counsel probe

The lawyer who represents former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik has turned over thousands of pages of documents — “approximately 600MB, mostly pdfs” — as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Kerik worked with former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani in an effort to uncover voter fraud after President Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. In a tweet last night, Kerik stressed that “no one is selling out Trump or Giuliani.”

Former senior Justice Department official Richard Donoghue also confirmed yesterday that he was interviewed by Smith’s office but has not been called to testify before a grand jury. 

The federal grand jury hearing evidence in the investigation is expected to soon decide whether to indict Trump in connection with efforts to overturn the 2020 election. 

The state of the standoff between UPS and workers union

Negotiators for UPS and the union representing some of the 340,000 workers are going back to the table today, seeking to finalize a labor deal by the end of the month. If the parties fail to reach a tentative contract agreement in time, UPS workers have committed to walking off the job just after midnight on Aug. 1, exactly one week away. If that happens, it could become the largest single-employer strike in U.S. history.

While most of the elements of a new five-year contract are already in place, there are a few critical sticking points left to be resolved. Here’s what to know about where things stand — and what’s at risk if a strike happens.

Kylian Mbappé's team gets record $330 million offer from Saudi Arabia club

French soccer icon Kylian Mbappé could be headed to Saudi Arabia, after a club in the oil-rich kingdom made an unprecedented bid for the Les Bleus captain.

Paris Saint-Germaine has received a €300 million transfer offer for Mbappé, which is about $332 million, from the kingdom’s Al-Hilal team, the Associated Press and Sky Sports both reported on Monday.

Should Mbappé end up playing in Saudi Arabia, it’d be yet another major acquisition for the kingdom, which is seeking to increase its soft power on the world stage via sports.

Two 911 calls made before Black man mauled by police dog

In a two-minute 911 call released yesterday, a caller believed to be Jadarrius Rose can be heard saying he didn’t know why he was being pulled over. “Right now I’m being chased by like 20 police officers and they all got their guns directly to my truck,” the man said. The caller did not identify himself but is believed to be Rose. The man also said troopers “exploded” the tires on his truck and said he did not feel safe stopping. 

Officials in Circleville, Ohio, are now investigating Rose’s arrest on July 4, after a police officer instructed his K9 to attack, even after the 23-year-old Black man surrendered and had his hands raised.

New research confirms the ‘allergic march’

The development of allergies, starting with eczema in babies, can follow a predictable path, a large study of young children confirms. The research, published today in the journal Pediatrics, confirms a long-recognized phenomenon known as the “allergic march,” a pattern that describes the way allergies tend to develop and progress beginning in infancy through age 3.

The study shows that kids tended to be first diagnosed with eczema, followed by diagnoses of food allergies, asthma, hay fever and, in some rare cases, eosinophilic esophagitis — a type of food allergy that causes inflammation in the esophagus. 

The findings are helpful for giving parents and physicians a clue about what’s to come and could lead to treatments that could halt the progression or stop allergies from developing altogether.

Today’s Talker

A Tennessee student claims his school district violated his…

… freedom of speech, according to a lawsuit filed last week against Tullahoma City Schools, a principal and vice principal. Last summer, the high school student began posting memes that targeted his school’s principal. The posts caught the administration’s attention, and a three-day suspension followed, the lawsuit said. The student now wants to stop the school district from enforcing its social media policy, declaring it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

Politics in Brief

IRS in-person visits: The Internal Revenue Service will end most unannounced visits to taxpayers, a reversal of a decades-long practice in an effort to “reduce public confusion” amid a rise in scam artists.

2024 election: Vivek Ramaswamy didn’t attract much attention when he launched his presidential bid. But the 37-year-old multimillionaire is embracing a strategy that seems to be working. 

Jan. 6 riot: An Arkansas truck driver and Jan. 6 rioter who repeatedly struck a police officer with a flag pole as the officer was being dragged down the steps of the Capitol was sentenced to more than four years in prison. 

Staff Pick: Dissecting Jason Aldean’s music video

When country singer Jason Aldean defended his music video for the song “Try That in a Small Town,” he said, “there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage.” But one TikTok creator was quick to prove him wrong, identifying video clips that were actually stock footage. Reporter Doha Madani spoke with the TikToker who debunked Aldean’s claim about the feedback — both good and bad — that she’s since received since speaking out. — Elizabeth Robinson, newsletter editor

In Case You Missed It

Israel was in an uproar after the country’s parliament gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s divisive judicial overhaul plan a boost by passing a law that weakens the powers of the courts.

Strength training is gaining a stronghold in the fitness industry. Studies show it can bring a variety of health benefits.

An employee of former President Barack Obama died while paddle boarding near the family’s Martha’s Vineyard residence.

The heat waves setting records in the U.S. and Europe would have been “virtually impossible” if not for climate change, according to scientists.

Trader Joe’s recalled two types of cookies after discovering they might contain rocks.

The director of the Miami-Dade Police Department was hospitalized after shooting himself on a Florida highway.

A former pastor has been arrested in the 1975 murder of an 8-year-old girl who was kidnapped while walking to his church.

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