'Americans honoring Americans': MOA exhibits 13-flag tribute to fallen

Chinese state media say that 16 people have died and 18 others remain missing after a flash flood in western China’s Qinghai province. A sudden rainstorm triggered a landslide that diverted a river on Wednesday night, state broadcaster CCTV said Thursday. The flash flood affected an area with more than 6,000 people and over 1,500 houses, CCTV said. Emergency authorities described it as a “mountain torrent” disaster in Datong county. China is facing a series of flooding disasters this summer and extreme heat and drought in other parts of the country. State media has described the heat and drought as the worst since record-keeping started 60 years ago.

The U.S. government will hold talks with Taiwan on a trade treaty in a new sign of support for the self-ruled island democracy China claims as its own territory. The announcement comes after Beijing launched military drills that included firing missiles into the seas around Taiwan in an attempt to intimidate the island after a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The announcement by the U.S. Trade Representative made no mention of tension with Beijing but said the negotiations were meant to enhance trade and regulatory cooperation, a step that would entail closer official interaction.

Firefighters are putting out the remnants of two wildfires on a Sicilian island that forced fashion designer Giorgio Armani and dozens more to flee vacation villas overnight.  The head of the region’s civil protection agency said Thursday that arson is suspected in two wildfires that forced some 30 people to seek refuge in boats or on safer parts of the island. Firefighters used Canadair planes to douse the flames, along with ground teams to protect homes. Authorities said no structures appeared to have been lost. Armani and guests evacuated his villa overnight as the flames neared, but the fire stopped short of the property.   The island’s mayor, Vincenzo Campo, told the ANSA news agency Thursday that the worst appeared to be over.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to meet the U.N. chief and Turkey’s leader in Lviv near Ukraine’s border with Poland. Thursday's talks will focus on the recent deal to resume Ukraine’s grain exports, the volatile situation at a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant and efforts to help end the war. Turkey and the United Nations helped broker an agreement last month clearing the way for Ukraine to export 22 million tons of grain stuck in its ports since Moscow invaded on Feb. 24. Turkey hosted a round of talks in March between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators on a possible deal to end the hostilities. The talks fell apart after the Istanbul meeting with Russia and Ukraine blaming each other.

Global stocks and Wall Street futures are mostly lower after the Federal Reserve said U.S. inflation is too high, suggesting support for more interest rate hikes. London, Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong declined. Frankfurt opened higher. Oil prices edged up. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.7% after notes from a Fed board meeting last month said inflation still is “unacceptably high” despite signs U.S. economic growth is weakening. Board members saw “little evidence” inflation pressures are subsiding. Investors worry aggressive rate hikes by the Fed and central banks in Europe and Asia to tame inflation that is running at multi-decade highs might derail global economic growth.

A Muslim woman who was gang raped while pregnant during India’s devastating 2002 religious riots has appealed to the government to rescind its decision to free 11 men who had been jailed for life for committing the crime, after they were released on suspended sentences. The victim, now in her forties, was pregnant when she was brutally gang raped in communal violence in 2002 in the western state of Gujarat, which saw over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, killed in some of the worst religious riots India has experienced since independence. Seven members of the woman's family, including her three-year-old daughter, were also killed in the violence. The 11 men, released on Monday, were convicted in 2008 of rape, murder and unlawful assembly.

A U.S. congressional delegation has arrived in Kenya to meet with the new president-elect and the opposition figure likely to file a court challenge to his election loss in the latest electoral crisis for East Africa’s most stable democracy. The new U.S. ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman, said the delegation led by Sen. Chris Coons also will meet with outgoing Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who has been publicly silent since the Aug. 9 election. President-elect William Ruto is Kenyatta’s deputy president, but the two fell out years ago, and Kenyatta in the election backed longtime opposition figure Raila Odinga instead.