Multiple agencies respond to brush fire in Yelm

Associated Press
From his Montana ranch, a retired lawmaker in a crowded House race is angling for a comeback
From a ranch in one of America’s largest and newest congressional districts, where agriculture and Republicans dominate, a retired six-term Montana lawmaker and grandfather is taking an unlikely path in search of a political comeback. Former U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, 68, is more than a decade removed from a failed U.S. Senate bid. Rehberg jumped into the race after firebrand conservative incumbent U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale dropped out amid clashes with party leaders.
Associated Press
After a quarter century, Thailand's LGBTQ Pride Parade is seen as a popular and political success
Thailand is kicking off its celebration of the LGBTQ+ community’s Pride Month with a parade Saturday, as the country is on course to become the first nation in Southeast Asia to legalize marriage equality. The annual Bangkok Pride Parade is expected to pack the streets in one of the Thai capital’s busiest commercial districts. Pride Month celebrations have been endorsed by politicians, government agencies and some of the country’s biggest business conglomerates, which have become official partners or sponsors for the celebration.
Reuters
Mexican candidate assassinations hit grim record ahead of Sunday's election
Mexico's election is now the bloodiest in its modern history after a candidate running for local office in central Puebla state was murdered on Friday at a political rally, taking the number of assassinated candidates to 37 ahead of Sunday's vote. Jorge Huerta Cabrera, a candidate who was running for a council seat in the town of Izucar de Matamoros, was gunned down in the attack, according to the state prosecutor's office. The killing takes the number of assassinated candidates in the 2024 election season to 37, one more than during the 2021 midterm election when 36 candidates were killed, according to data from security consultancy Integralia.
Associated Press
US defense secretary says war with China neither imminent nor unavoidable, stressing need for talks
United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told a gathering of top security officials Saturday that war with China was neither imminent nor unavoidable, despite rapidly escalating tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, stressing the importance of renewed dialogue between him and his Chinese counterpart in avoiding “miscalculations and misunderstandings.” Austin's comments at the Shangri-La defense forum in Singapore came the day after he met for more than an hour on the sidelines with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun, the first in-person meeting between the top defense officials since contacts between the American and Chinese militaries broke down in 2022 after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, infuriating Beijing. Neither side budged from their longstanding positions on Taiwan — which China claims as its own and has not ruled out using force to take — and on China's sweeping claims in the South China Sea, which has led to direct confrontations between China and other nations in the region, most notably the Philippines.
CNN
US defense chief hails security partnerships in Asia in face of Russia, China threats
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday hailed the arrival of a “new convergence” in the Indo-Pacific, as the United States fortifies strategic and security partnerships in the region amid rising threats from China and Russia.
AFP
'We exist': S. Korea's first LGBTQ councillor tackles inclusion
South Korea's first openly gay legislator may have cracked the ruling party's rainbow ceiling but admits there is a long way to go to make the country's politics inclusive.Despite being South Korea's only openly LGBTQ elected official, Cha said they have found politics welcoming and productive.
CNN
UN food agency can’t feed enough Gazans in ‘apocalyptic’ Rafah as IDF pushes into city
The United Nations food agency is unable to feed most civilians in Rafah, its local director warned Friday, with most border crossings closed amid what he described as “apocalyptic conditions” and the Israeli military pushing further into Gaza’s southernmost city.
Reuters
More evidence points to Russia-North Korea military cooperation, South Korea defence minister says
South Korean defence minister Shin Won-sik said on Saturday that more evidence suggests weapons used by Russia in the war in Ukraine were illegally imported from North Korea. "Military cooperation between Russia and North Korea" is escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula and "also affecting the battlefield in Europe", Shin said.
AFP
Tens of thousands of South Koreans to celebrate Pride despite backlash
Tens of thousands of LGBTQ South Koreans and their supporters are expected to gather in central Seoul for annual Pride celebrations Saturday, despite the event's traditional venue being banned by authorities for the second consecutive year.The event marks its 25th anniversary this year, but preparing for the annual celebration has not been easy, organisers said.
AFP
Austin praises 'new era of security' in Asia-Pacific
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hailed on Saturday a "new era of security" in the Asia-Pacific region, as Washington strengthens its network of alliances aimed at countering China's growing military might and influence. - 'We are all in' - Underscoring the US commitment to the region, Austin said Saturday that the Asia-Pacific remained Washington's "priority theatre of operations", noting "the United States can be secure only if Asia is".
AFP
China making youth unemployment a 'top priority'
At a job fair for soon-to-be graduates in central Shanghai, recruiters sat bored under washed-out tarpaulins as rain and an apparent lack of interest kept potential young employees away."It's difficult to find a job that matches your degree and aspirations," one of the few young jobseekers at the fair, a data sciences student, told AFP. "Lots of college students actually have too high expectations," said Julia Shao, who was recruiting for a restaurant chain.
CNN
A heroic officer was ambushed and killed by a gunman he tried to help. Another victim is dead, and several others are wounded
A Minneapolis officer hailed as a hero last year was killed by a gunman who ambushed the officer as he responded to the scene of another shooting, police said.
TODAY
While some companies market ‘natural’ MSG, my restaurant will stick with the original
Eric Huang, chef-owner of Pecking House, had a visceral reaction to Noma Projects' marketing of its mushroom garum.
TODAY
The stingray who got pregnant without a male has a ‘reproductive disease,’ aquarium says
Charlotte, a California round stingray, self-impregnated according to the Aquarium & Shark Lab by Team ECCO in Hendersonville, North Carolina. But the aquarium now says she has a "reproductive disease."
NBC News
Special counsel again asks for modified release conditions for Trump in classified documents case
Special counsel Jack Smith asked the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's classified documents case in Florida to bar him from making statements that endanger law enforcement.
Associated Press
15 years on, the Tamil survivors of Sri Lanka's brutal civil war live in fear — and disempowerment
At the site of a bloody battlefield that marked the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, Singaram Soosaimuthu fishes every day with his son, casting nets and reeling them in. The former Tamil fighter lost both legs in 2009 as the nation’s generation-long civil war drew to a close and the Tamils retreated in defeat.
AFP
Hindu holy city votes as India's six-week election ends
India's six-week election reached its final day of voting Saturday, including in the holy city Prime Minister Narendra Modi has used as a staging post for his Hindu nationalist agenda.It is one of the final cities to vote in India's gruelling election and where public support for Modi's ever-closer alignment of religion and politics burns brightest.
Reuters
Florida deputy who shot Black airman is fired, sheriff says
A Florida sheriff's office on Friday fired a deputy who had shot and killed a Black airman with the U.S. Air Force, saying the use of deadly force was not reasonable. That was the conclusion of an internal affairs investigation by the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office into the May 3 killing of Roger Fortson, 23, in Fort Walton Beach, the sheriff's office said in a statement. A criminal investigation into former deputy Eddie Duran, who shot and killed Fortson, is ongoing, the sheriff's office said.
Politico
DeSantis says Trump can still vote in Florida despite felony conviction
The governor disputes the assessment of some experts who say Trump’s conviction would make him ineligible to vote in the state.
CNN
Biden says it’s ‘time for this war to end’ as he lays out Israeli ceasefire proposal
President Joe Biden asserted Friday that Hamas has been degraded to a point where it can no longer carry out the type of attack that launched the current 8-month conflict in Gaza, laying out a three-phase proposal Israel has submitted to wind down the grinding crisis as he declared, “It’s time for this war to end.

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