Source : the age
The New York Times says there are chaotic scenes on the National Mall. “Several hundred people have refused to leave despite an order to evacuate because of severe inclement weather that is approaching. Some are even arguing with Secret Service agents,” it reported.
“At one point, a crowd of people began running back toward the stage. An officer is sternly repeating the order over a bullhorn and the crowd is booing. Many have begun chanting “USA, USA.”
“One federal law enforcement officer sought to ensure people that the event had not been cancelled.”
One man blamed the situation on “liberals in the weather service”.
“I think this is baloney,” the Times reported him saying.
Washington: Police are telling us that the entire National Mall is being evacuated immediately. There is about to be a weather emergency.
People are streaming out of the National Mall now. Screens inside the event say “EVENT POSTPONED”.
“Due to severe weather, this event is postponed until weather passes, ” one reads. “Please proceed to the nearest exit”.
Police are directing people to either go home or seek shelter in nearby hotels or museums.
Washington: It’s chaos where I am, just outside the National Mall. It seems most of the directions people were given were wrong – or have at been superseded by late changes.
Streams of people looking to enter the grounds at 14th Street – which is where the emailed instructions told them to go – are being turned away because they don’t have a special guest lanyard.
A volunteer from Freedom250 was telling people to go to 12th Street to cross through the exclusion zone and join the queue. But when they got there, they found it was blocked by law enforcement.
The Secret Service is telling people they have to go all the way down to 3rd Street, 10 long blocks away. This being the US, there are no signs to tell people where to go, and no officials seem to know the right information.
US President Donald Trump spoke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin by telephone for nearly 90 minutes, offering to help find a solution to the Ukraine war, said Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov.
Ushakov said Trump made the offer in the context of his participation next week at the NATO summit in Turkey. He quoted the US president as saying that US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would continue their efforts at brokering a settlement and were prepared to make another visit to Moscow.
The Kremlin aide said Putin gave Trump an assessment of the battlefield situation in Ukraine, where Russian commanders said on Friday that Moscow’s troops had captured the strategically important city of Kostiantynivka.
On Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected that claim, saying it still controlled the eastern city.
Reuters
Washington: I am outside the National Mall, near the corner of 15th and E streets, where an enormous crowd is trying to funnel into a narrow line to get into the mall.
The queue stretches way down Pennsylvania Avenue and out of my sight. It is moving, but people keep joining it and squeezing in, so it’s a long wait.
This is a special access line for people with tickets to the up-front area near the Washington Monument.
While the National Mall is ordinarily accessible from all sides and angles, the tight security at this event means people have to funnel through Secret Service checkpoints.
America’s big broadcast networks are set to focus on Americana and fireworks during prime-time hours – and largely steer clear of US President Donald Trump’s July 4 address from the National Mall, The New York Times reports.
Fox News is the lone major channel planning substantial live coverage of the speech. It will also broadcast from the main stage on the National Mall.
CBS will broadcast The Great American Block Party 250, while ABC will pursue a similar strategy, airing Nashville’s Star-Spangled Bash – an Independence Day celebration with the radio and TV personality Ryan Seacrest. Both plan to cover Trump’s speech in streaming packages on their websites, though neither plans post-speech analysis.
NBC will air the two-hour Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Show.
Philadelphia: Fireworks crackled and jets roared ahead of the France-Paraguay World Cup game in Philadelphia as fans celebrated the double joy of soccer’s biggest tournament on home soil and the 250th anniversary of American independence in the nation’s birthplace.
You can follow our live coverage of the Paraguay taking on France here.
A pregame show celebrating the city’s history included Tony Award winner Idina Menzel singing The Star-Spangled Banner on a star-shaped stage. The Philadelphia-formed hip-hop band The Roots also performed, backed by dancers, including a “Lady Liberty” draped in a monumental gown, and fireworks in red, white and blue.
Fans clad in the wavy, flag-inspired stripes of the US national team chanted “USA!” next to France and Paraguay supporters – all of them in the red, white and blue colours of the flags of all three countries.
