Also, McCarthy orders a Biden impeachment inquiry. Here’s the latest at the end of Tuesday.
The authorities in Libya estimated that at least 5,000 people have died, and thousands more are believed to be missing, after heavy rain submerged the coastal city of Derna, destroyed roads and swept entire neighborhoods into the sea.
The storm caused two dams to burst, destroying much of Derna, on Libya’s northeast coast. Citizens who escaped the city left “as if they were born today, with nothing,” one army official said. The flooding buckled buildings and blocked roads, impeding access to the most stricken areas, and the death toll is likely to rise in the coming days.
One local official said today that a third dam, located between Derna and the larger city of Benghazi, was also on the brink of collapse.
Libya, a North African nation splintered by a war, was ill-prepared for the storm which swept across the Mediterranean Sea. The country is administered by two rival governments, complicating rescue and aid efforts, and its infrastructure has been poorly maintained after more than a decade of political chaos.
Libya is also especially vulnerable to climate change and severe storms. Warming causes the waters of the Mediterranean to expand and sea levels to rise, eroding shorelines and contributing to flooding, with low-lying coastal areas of the country at particular risk.
For more, maps show where floods hit Derna and videos show the scale of the devastation.McCarthy ordered a Biden impeachment inquiry
Speaker Kevin McCarthy directed top congressional Republicans to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, as he works to appease far-right Republicans who have threatened to oust him amid a pitched fight over spending.
McCarthy said he would task three House committees with carrying out the inquiry into the president and his family as Republicans hunt for evidence of financial wrongdoing or corruption. After months of digging, Republicans have found no such proof, though they argue they have enough information to warrant more investigation.Google’s monopoly trial began
A major antitrust case against Google went to trial today, with the federal government and more than three dozen states accusing the company of illegally protecting a monopoly so complete that its name has become synonymous with searching the internet.
In opening arguments, a lawyer for the federal government argued that Google illegally protected its internet search monopoly using deals struck with smartphone makers. A lawyer for Google said the company’s search product was popular because of its superiority, not because of anti-competitive tactics.
Should Google lose, it could be forced to restructure.
