CHARGED: The US has charged Hamas political chief Yahya Sinwar and five other senior leaders of the Palestinian militant organization with carrying out attacks that resulted in the deaths of at least 43 Americans. 

  The indictment was filed in February and revealed only yesterday.

  This comes at a sensitive time in which the US and hundreds of thousands of protesters in the streets of Israel are pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a deal for the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas since October 7^th. Protests broke out after the bodies of six hostages were found, executed as Israeli troops were closing in for a rescue. The protesters blame Netanyahu for extending the war at the risk of hostage lives.

  The indictment of the Hamas leaders risks making it more difficult to reach an agreement for a cease fire and release of hostages.

THE WAR ROOM: At least 50 people were killed yesterday and hundreds wounded when two Russian missiles hit a military academy in southern Ukraine. Witnesses said the air raid warning didn’t give enough time to take shelter.

  Some reports say the missiles hit just when cadets had collected for an event.

  That attack came as Ukraine continues its offensive into Russian territory while the Russians make fierce assaults in Ukraine’s east with the goal of capturing the transit hub of Pokrovsk.

ORANGE ALERT: A federal judge in Manhattan yesterday denied Donald Trump’s request to have his state criminal case moved to federal court. Trump was convicted of 34 criminal charges in the payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels but claimed that the case should be federal because he was president. His lawyers had argued that the recent Supreme Court case granting a president wide immunity applies in the New York case.

 US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said that “hush-money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority.”

  In yet another Trump legal action, a federal judge in Atlanta ruled that his campaign must stop using the song “Hold On, I’m Coming” while the family of one of the song’s co-writers pursues a lawsuit against the former president over its use. The estate of  Isaac Hayes Jr. filed the lawsuit last month claiming copyright infringement. 

BY THE NUMBERS: New polling by CNN shows Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump in the critical states of Wisconsin and Michigan with Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania having no clear leader. Trump leads in Arizona.

    CNN’s numbers:

  -Wisconsin, Harris 50-44 percent. 

  -Michigan, Harris 48-43.

  -Georgia, Harris 48-47

  -Nevada, Harris 48-47

  -Pennsylvania, Harris 47, Trump 47.

  -Arizona, Trump 49, Harris 44. 

CHINA SYNDROME: A former aid to New York governors Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo has been charged in federal court with using her position to benefit and influence on behalf of the Chinese government.

  The indictment charges that Linda Sun, 40, accepted everything from Nanjing-style salted ducks to money for a $3.6 million home, a $1.9 million Honolulu condominium, and luxury cars including a Ferrari in exchange for actions to benefit the People’s Republic of China 

  Sun’s husband, Chris Hu, 41, was charged with money laundering in the same indictment.

  The indictment charges that in exchange for travel, event tickets, and cash, Sun blocked the access of Taiwanese officials to the New York governor’s office and prevented officials from taking a stand on China’s persecution of its Uyghur Muslim ethnic group.

  Sun was fired by the Hochul administration in March of 2023 “after discovering evidence of misconduct.” Sun had worked in state government for nearly 14 years in the administrations of Cuomo and Hochul, ultimately reaching the position of deputy chief of staff for Hochul.

THE SHOOTING GALLERY: Police in Minden, Louisiana say an 11-year-old boy admitted fatally shooting the former interim mayor and his adult daughter. The boy, who was related to the victims, was arrested Sunday after the killings of Joe Cornelius Sr., 82, and Keisha Miles, 31.

 Police say they do not know the motive for the murders. The local police chief said, “Who knows why someone would do something this malicious, and at that age.”

THE OBIT PAGE: James Darren, the actor and singer who became a national heartthrob in the “Gidget” surfer movies of the late 1950s and early ’60s and had a hit song with “Goodbye Cruel World,” died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 88.

  Darren couldn’t surf, but he played the surfer Moondoggie opposite Sandra Dee, spawning the period of surf culture also popularized by The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean.

  Darren went on to have a successful television career playing among other parts a scientist lost in time in “The Time Tunnel,” and as a police officer partnered with William Shatner in “TJ Hooker.” 

THE SPIN RACK: Twelve people died yesterday and 65 were pulled from the water after a boat carrying migrants capsized in the English Channel off the Pas-de-Calais region of France. — At least 129 people died in a massive jailbreak and stampede at the largest prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Twenty-four of the dead were shot by guards. The prison was built for 1,500 inmates but has housed at least 12,000. — South Korean media report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un ordered 30 officials to be executed for failing to prevent summer flooding and landslides that resulted in the deaths of 4,000 people.  — Media analyst Brian Stelter is returning to CNN after a two-year hiatus. He had been let go because previous management thought he was too liberal.

BELOW THE FOLD: New photos of the wreck of the Titanic reveal that it is deteriorating and slowly returning to nature. The ship is under 12,000 feet of water. Researchers re-discovered the 2-foot-tall bronze statue of the Roman goddess, “Diana of Versailles,” that had been in the first class lounge. The question now is whether to recover Diana or let her lie in her watery grave.

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