Oppressive heat invades eastern U.S.
WASHINGTON, July 22 (UPI) -- Smothering heat and humidity spread over the eastern United States Friday, with temperatures expected to reach or pass 100 degrees in major cities.
The heat wave that plagued the nation's midsection earlier this week and was blamed for about two dozen deaths, is expected to topple several longstanding records for the daily high temperature, AccuWeather.com reported. For example, Philadelphia was expected to top 100 degrees, breaking its 54-year record for this date.
AccuWeather said temperatures, with humidity factored in, could "feel" like they're 110 to 118 during the hottest hours of the day.
Emergency officials in the Washington area were preparing staff, stocking up on equipment and adding to the fleet of rescue vehicles to respond to emergencies during a hot-weather assault that isn't expected to ease until Sunday, The Washington Post reported.
Obama-Boehner plan: Cuts now, taxes later
WASHINGTON, July 22 (UPI) -- The Barack Obama-John Boehner debt-cutting plan envisions $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion in U.S. spending cuts but few tax changes for two years, officials said.
News of the proposed deal angered Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who confronted White House budget director Jack Lew during a meeting about secret talks and a deficit reduction deal between Obama and Boehner, The Hill reported Friday.
"I'm the Senate majority leader -- why don't I know about this deal?" Reid demanded Thursday as Lew walked into the Mansfield Room for a meeting with Senate Democrats, a lawmaker who witnessed the exchange said.
Lew testily replied, "If there's a deal, then the president doesn't know about it, the vice president doesn't know about it and I don't know about it."
Democrats were angry Obama was apparently willing to accept big spending cuts in exchange for reforming the tax code at some time in the future as part of a proposal to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.
Blast shakes Olso, hits government HQ
OSLO, Norway, July 22 (UPI) -- A huge explosion Friday at a 17-story Norwegian government headquarters building set it afire, caused many casualties and shook central Oslo, authorities said.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, whose office is in the building, was unharmed, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The number of casualties was not immediately known. The BBC quoted witnesses as saying at least eight people were injured and victims were seen lying in the street in pools of blood.
The offices of VG, Norway's largest newspaper, were severely damaged.
The building was on fire and most of its windows shattered, witnesses said.
News and Views from Norway reported that a bomb was believed to be responsible, but authorities did not confirm that. The Aftenposten newspaper said police were searching for more explosives.
The New York Times, citing Norwegian media, reported the explosion occurred just before 3:30 p.m., and a vast cloud of white smoke rose hundreds of feet into the air over the city.
The NRK newspaper reported that all roads into the city center have been shut off.
Protests spead to more Syrian cities
DAMASCUS, Syria, July 22 (UPI) -- Syria's huge weekly protests spread to central Damascus and the second-largest city of Aleppo for the first time Friday, witnesses said.
In Homs, the country's third-largest city, a siege by President Bashar Assad's security forces continued in retaliation for the killing of several members of his Alawite Muslim sect last week, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Footage posted to the Internet showed tanks and artillery shelling Sunni mosques and neighborhoods.
The opposition says the regime is trying to turn the uprising into a sectarian conflict.
"That is what the regime wants everyone to believe so they become afraid," said a Western diplomat in Damascus, speaking on condition of anonymity. "And that is the challenge for the opposition. They have to opt out of fearful propaganda and show that they are unified. But I think we've seen very little sectarian violence among ordinary citizens."
A witness near Homs told the Times the army was fortifying the Lebanese border to keep the wounded from being evacuated to Lebanon.
Bus fire in China kills 41, 6 injured
XINYANG CITY, China, July 22 (UPI) -- Fire in a double-deck sleeper bus Friday killed 41 people and injured six others, one critically, in China's Xinyang City, officials said.
It was China's deadliest bus accident in years, said Zhang Guohui, head of the Henan Provincial Work Safety Administration.
Xinhua, China's official state news agency, said 47 people were on the 35-person bus when it caught fire on the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway about 4 a.m.
The victims were burned beyond recognition and their identities will be determined through DNA testing, the report said.
Officials were trying to find out what caused the fire.
