"I am angry about what these is doing, what they are doing. I appreciate all their concerns. They have their own problems and good causes."

Secretary of State John Kerry is in Cairo, pushing for a temporary cease-fire. Kerry says he wants a short term deal to pave the way for a more sustainable solution to Gaza.

 

In Iraq, Sunni extremists with a so-called Islamic state blew up the tomb of the Prophet Jonah in the northern city of Mosul today. From Urbiu, NPR's Leila Fadel reports residents of the cities and across Iraq are enraged.

That's the sound of this historic site revered by Muslims and Christians being blown up in Mosul. The video was posted online.The man filming yells "no, no, no, Prophet Jonah, this is gone. God, these scoundrels." The destruction is drawing criticisms from Sunni allies and may cause deep rifts in the uneasy alliances that Sunni extremists group has made with other Sunni fighting groups marginalized by the Shia-elected government. Leila Fadel, NPR news, Urbiu. 

 

Ukraine's interim Prime Minister delivered a biding condemnation of the country's parliament today and announced his resigning. As NPR's Corey Flintoff reports that the move opens the way for new parliamentary elections. Arseniy Yatsenyuk has been Prime Minister since Ukraine's pro-Russian president fled the country in February. Yatsenyuk is one of the leaders of the protesters that ousted the president. His resignation came after two key parties withdrew from his ruling coalition, a move that could force earlier elections. Yatsenyuk denounced politicians who he said had failed to address Ukraine's energy crisis or to pass a budget. He said parliaments still had budgeted to support the military or pay soldiers who are fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Corey Flintoff, NPR news, Donetsk.

 

A federal court is backing the US government's 80 million claim against French bank BMP Paribas. The Justice Department says BMP Paribas defrauded a federal program designed to encourage American exports. Last month, the French bank agreed to pay nearly 9 billion dollars for violating US economic sanctions.

 

On Wall Street today, the Dow dropped two points, the NASDAQ was off one. This is NPR.

 

A sharp decline in new home sales last month, the Commerce Department says they fell more than 8% in June and sales in May were revised downward. Still economists cautioned against reading too much into the numbers, the majority of the housing market is filled by existing home sales and they were at an 8 month high in June.

 

A new study in the medical journal, the Lancet is warning pregnant women to stop using a commonly prescribed blood thinner. NPR's Patti Neighmond reports the study concludes it’s ineffective.

Heparin is used to prevent pregnancy complications caused by blood clots including pregnancy loss, heavy bleeding and low birth weight babies. The treatment requires women to get themselves daily abdominal injections. Researchers at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute in Canada enrolled 292 pregnant women in risk of blood clots in their study. The women were from five different countries including the US. About half were given Heparin to inject, the other half a placebo. The findings show no benefit from Heparin, and possibly even minor harm by increasing bleeding. Researchers say doctors should stop prescribing the medication to pregnant women in risk of blood clots and hope the findings stimulate investigations into new treatment. Patti Neighmond, NPR news.

Fire crews in Washington states say they are making progress containing the Carlton Complex wild fire, the largest in the state's history. They say with help from the rain storms and cooler temperatures, the blaze is now more than 50 percent contained. Nearly three thousands firefighters are battling the blaze which has burnt almost four hundreds square miles.