A fatal shooting in Seattle and ‘apocalyptic’ fires in Europe: Morning Rundown

Three people are dead after a pair of gunmen opened fire at Seattle Center. Wildfires in France and Spain force 300,000 residents to evacuate. And how Ukraine is leveraging Russia’s oil crisis.

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Three dead, four injured in Seattle Center shooting

Three people were killed and four others were injured in what police believe was a shootout between a pair of gunmen at a major food festival in Seattle last night.

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One gunman surrendered after being confronted by police while authorities are searching for another shooter that fled Seattle Center, which was hosting the Bite of Seattle event, Assistant Seattle Police Chief Tyrone Davis said.

“There were two people who we believe were shooting at each other,” Davis said.

Seven people had been shot, he said, two of whom died at the scene at the complex, which is also home to the city’s Space Needle.

Four of the injured, including a toddler, were taken to Harborview Medical Center, the region’s top-level trauma center, Davis added. One of them died.

‘Apocalyptic’ wildfires in France and Spain force hundreds of thousands to flee

More than 300,000 people have been evacuated across France and Spain as authorities battle some of the continent’s most severe wildfires in decades. Some are fleeing by boat, sleeping in cars and crowding into emergency shelters as disaster spreads.

“You can feel it’s a bit apocalyptic,” Dylan Boudier, a resident in the French beach town of Arcachon, told NBC News. “People are looking for accommodation everywhere and some spend the night outside,” he said.

More than 162 square miles — about the size of Denver — have burned in France, making it one of the largest forest fires since World War II. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said yesterday that it will take “a long time to bring under control.”

Another heat wave this week will see temperatures jump again, to around 99 degrees Fahrenheit, raising fears that a total evacuation of Bordeaux, a tourist hub in the popular Gironde wine region of the southwest, may even be necessary.

Neighboring Spain declared a national emergency for the first time due to a wildfire. Over 90,000 people have been evacuated from the regions around Madrid and Avila as the blazes burn through houses.

“I can see the smoke from more than 100 miles away,” Miguel Aznar, 56, said in a telephone interview from his home in Calatayud in Zaragoza province, far from the La Mierla wildfire northeast of Madrid.

Ukraine is using Russia’s oil crisis to flip the script on the war

For nearly two months, Russia has been in the grip of a fuel crisis, unprecedented in over a quarter century of President Vladimir Putin’s reign, that is helping Ukraine flip the script on its enemy.

After numerous Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries across Russia, some regions are introducing rationing schemes and restrictions at gas stations.

“Some gas stations are closed, and those that are open don’t always have a full range of fuel types available,” one woman told NBC News, adding that she’s spent hours waiting in line.

Several governors have raised the alarm about the long lines and public order after videos emerged of altercations at some stations.

Putin acknowledged that the Ukrainian attacks “do create problems” but maintained that shortages are not critical. Still, unhappiness — even among his most ardent supporters — is testing his grip on Russia.

Susan Collins walks a fine line on Trump and MAGA

As Maine Sen. Susan Collins fights for re-election against Troy Jackson, the newly selected Democratic nominee, she walks a fine line: disagreeing with some of President Donald Trump’s policies while still appealing to the MAGA voters she needs.

In an interview with NBC News, Collins was quick to counter accusations from Jackson that she’s “served” Trump: “I have opposed the president when I think he’s wrong, and I’ve supported him when I think that he’s right,” she said, citing his recent tariffs on Canada as something she disagrees with.

Her approach often straddles a line that others have not been able to successfully navigate, one GOP strategist said. She knows how to “disagree without being disagreeable.”

It also helps that the president recognizes he needs Collins to win so Republicans can keep control of the Senate. She’s the only GOP lawmaker who’s gotten Trump’s endorsement after voting to impeach or convict him.

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Staff Pick: Intimate portraits capture grief and defiance at Khamenei’s Tehran funeral

The funeral processions were an expression of grief but also an act of political theater.

For many of those in attendance, it was a show of defiance at a critical moment months after the government had appeared to be severely weakened by its violent crackdown on mass protests about rising prices and a faltering economy that left thousands dead in Iran dead.

The pictures do not have the polished clarity of conventional or professional shots. Grainy, dark and often imperfect, they have less detail and a rougher texture, and they feel immediate, restless and unresolved — much like the mood in Tehran.

Taken discreetly on the aging Olympus — a small, half-frame film camera manufactured more than a half a century ago — these photos do not offer a complete account of the funeral, nor do they try to. Instead, they capture a fleeting moment of a country in mourning , mobilizing against a common enemy and declaring victory against a militarily superior enemy.

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NBC Selected: Online Shopping, Simplified

As summer winds down, we’re gearing up for the new school year by putting together a list of the best dorm room essentials, including cozy bedding ( which you should be washing more than you think ).

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