Taylor Casey: The search continues for the 41-year-old American woman in the Bahamas. Casey, 41, from Chicago, was last seen on June 19 on Paradise Island, where she was attending a yoga retreat. Since the start of the search, the Royal Bahamas Police have found traces of her, including a dog scent trail and a cell phone found in the water. So far, the phone has not provided any further clues due to difficulties in accessing the data. Casey’s family has expressed dissatisfaction with the way the local authorities are conducting the search and have called for the FBI to take over the search.
Water pistols in Barcelona: On July 8, a demonstration took place in Barcelona, Spain, calling for a rollback of the country’s $13.8 billion tourism industry. Thousands of protesters marched through popular tourist sites, yelling for tourists to go home and spraying them with water pistols. Protesters argue that tourism drives up prices, puts pressure on public services, and reduces the quality of life for locals because profits are concentrated in the hands of a few. The mayor has taken several measures to meet their demands, including increasing the nightly tourist tax and phasing out licenses for short-term rental services such as Air BnB by 2028.
Danger in Texas: Hurricane Beryl has killed at least eight people and left 2.5 million homes without power in Texas and Louisiana. As of Tuesday morning, 2.3 million people were still without power. Repair crews are battling widespread damage and flooding that has left many roads impassable. The conditions are especially dangerous, with temperatures expected to reach the 90s and heat index of 105 degrees over the next few days, leaving many without air conditioning or even refrigerators. “Many people outdoors cleaning up after Beryl without adequate cooling could experience dangerous heat,” said the National Weather Service in Houston. Heat is the deadliest weather event in the U.S., killing more than twice as many people each year as hurricanes and tornadoes combined.
BYD Invests in Turkey: Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD, a leader in battery electric vehicle production, has agreed to invest $1 billion in a new factory in Turkey, according to the Turkish government. CEO Wang Chuanfu signed the agreement for the factory in Istanbul on Monday. The move will place the Turkish factory within the EU customs union, allowing BYD vehicles to avoid recently announced EU tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. The factory is expected to produce up to 150,000 electric and hybrid vehicles annually when completed in 2026.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Tuition Free: On Monday, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the donor organization of former New York City mayor and media mogul Bloomberg, announced a $1 billion gift to Johns Hopkins University. The money will be combined with other major donations to make medical school tuition free. Students from families earning less than $300,000 will have tuition waived, and medical students from families earning less than $175,000 will have their tuition waived in full, including living expenses. A recent study found that the average medical student graduates with more than $200,000 in debt.
