July 22 2000 UTC Brief

In Washington The House passed a short-term government funding bill well ahead of the shutdown deadline, an early move meant to lower the odds of a budget crisis becoming campaign-season theater. The Treasury Department also says it has blocked nearly $99 million in payments to deceased recipients before the money left government accounts, using a new verification process that checks transactions against federal records first. In business and media The European Union has given Paramount conditional approval for its Warner Bros. Discovery deal, but the merger still faces major obstacles in the United States. A federal judge in California ordered the companies to pause the deal temporarily this week, so the paperwork is now in a suspenseful second act. In the Middle East President Trump threatened to strike a bridge or power plant for each Iranian attack in the Strait of Hormuz, as the conflict escalates and the risk of broader economic disruption grows. Fuel prices are already moving higher, which is never a welcome detail when the region is on edge. In weather and disasters Tropical Storm Bertha made landfall in St. Bernard Parish, southeast of New Orleans, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph after weakening slightly overnight. At the same time, rescuers in Kentucky and West Virginia were still working to free trapped residents after catastrophic flooding caused major damage. In crime and courts Prosecutors are probing who knew about singer D4vd’s relationship with Celeste Rivas Hernandez before her killing, with investigators saying he allegedly stabbed her to keep the relationship from becoming public. The case is now focused on whether anyone else knew what was going on, which is usually where these stories get even darker. In Britain, a fundraiser for the three-year-old boy thrown into a crocodile enclosure at a Cambridgeshire zoo has passed £105,000. The child has undergone seven operations and is said to be showing encouraging progress, while police continue to investigate the suspected attempted murder and the care arrangements around the suspect. In other news John Mayer says he has quietly spent millions over 15 years funding PTSD and veterans’ health research, after visiting a military base and speaking with wounded service members. He says he kept the work low-profile while continuing to make music. And the 2026 World Cup has set record television ratings in the United States, proving that a major sports event can still unite the country around something other than a deadline or a disaster.