Your daily look at late breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
1. CABINET MEMBER UNDER FIRE AS EPSTEIN CASE REAPPRAISED
President Trump said he would be looking "very closely" at Labor Secretary Alex Acosta's handling of a sex trafficking case involving now-jailed billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein. But he also praised Acosta's performance on the job and saying he felt "very badly" for him.
Flag-themed souvenirs are for sale along Broadway, also known as the "Canyon of Champions," along the parade route in lower Manhattan, one day ahead of a ticker-tape parade and City Hall ceremony for the four-time World Cup winning U.S. women's soccer team, Tuesday, July 9, 2019, in New York. (AP PhotoKathy Willens)
2. DEMS STRUGGLING TO PUT HOUSE IN ORDER
In what could be a momentary blip or a foreshadowing of divisions to come, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are speaking at one another in a way that threatens party unity and underscores broader tensions reshaping the Democrats.
3. WHERE GUN CONTROL IS HIGH ON THE AGENDA
Deep-pocketed interest groups and activists on both sides of the long-running fight over gun laws are gearing up for a major clash in Virginia, now a key election battleground in the issue.
4. WHO COULD GO FROM SPY TO NATIONAL LEADER
Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, an internet engineer who could be a candidate for Iran's 2021 presidential campaign, tells The AP in an interview that his past work helping design the Intelligence Ministry's surveillance systems should not be a concern.
5. WHICH FISH SEE A DRAMATIC REVERSAL OF FORTUNE?
Sturgeon were America's vanishing dinosaurs, armor-plated beasts that crowded the nation's rivers until mankind's craving for caviar pushed them to the edge of extinction. Now, some populations of the massive bottom feeding fish are showing signs of recovery in the dark corners of U.S. waterways.
6. POLYNESIAN KINGDOM THREATENED BY CRIPPLING LOANS FROM BEIJING
Tonga, a South Pacific archipelago with no traffic lights or fast-food chains, is a country of 106,000 people which could be undone by debts of some $108 million to China's Export-Import bank, equivalent to about 25% of GDP.
7. DETERMINED REPORTERS STILL DIGGING DEEP
The Miami Herald's stories on sex trafficking charges against billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein illustrate a counter-intuitive trend: Investigative journalism is thriving as the news media industry struggles.
8. TIME-HONORED ARTISTRIES DISAPPEARING IN GAZA
For decades, traditional crafts like clay pottery, colorful glassware and bamboo furniture defined the economy of the coastal Palestinian enclave, but today the industries are almost non-existent.
9. BRING ON THE CONFETTI
The U.S. women's national soccer team will reign supreme once again Wednesday in New York City's Canyon of Heroes, inspiring another ticker tape parade in lower Manhattan to celebrate its historic World Cup win.
10. NOTABLE THESPIAN PASSES ON
Rip Torn, the free-spirited Texan who overcame his quirky name to become a distinguished actor in theater, television and movies and win an Emmy in his 60s, has died. He was 88.