NPR News: 07-04-2026 11PM EDT
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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Large crowds gathered in Tehran Saturday for the start of what will be six days of mourning for former leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The supreme leader was 86 years old. He and four of his family members were killed in February during U.S.
What significant event is happening in Tehran?
and Israeli airstrikes on Iran. MPR's Hadil Alshanchi watched the ceremonies from Istanbul.
From Iranian state media, we saw massive crowds at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, which is a large prayer complex. People were viewing the casket of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which was draped with the Iranian flag, as were the caskets of his four family members who were killed. Men and women wore black. They wept. Recitations from the Quran and mournful prayers echoed throughout the massive space. Men beat their chests in unison, which is a tradition in Shia funerals. There were also chants of death to America, death to Israel. Some people carried signs that said, kill Trump.
NPR's Adil El-Sholchi reporting from Istanbul. Ukraine launched another wave of drones against Russia overnight. The attacks came as Moscow and Kiev offered competing claims over whose forces held a key eastern Ukrainian city. NPR's Charles Mainz reports.
The governor of Russia's former imperial capital of St. Petersburg said city air defenses had fended off a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack even as he reported damage to the city's main oral terminal and a nearby port. Russia's defense ministry said Ukraine fired nearly 400 drones into some 18 regions of Russia and its occupied territories in all. Meanwhile, on the front lines, Russia's top brass informed President Vladimir Putin its troops had seized the eastern Ukrainian city of Konstantinovka, an outpost long sought by the Kremlin in its quest to take the entirety of Ukraine's eastern Donbass region. Yet Zelensky later called that claim a Russian lie and said Ukrainian forces remain in the city.
Charles Baines, NPR News, Moscow.
As hot and dry conditions persist in the western U.S., many large wildfires are burning uncontrolled across Colorado, including one outside of Pueblo that's destroyed more than 150 structures. And in Grand Junction, a public memorial will be held Sunday for three firefighters who were killed last weekend. Colorado Public Radio's Stena Sieg reports.
Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson, and Sidney Watson will be remembered in an outdoor public memorial under skies still smoky from wildfires burning across the region. Governor Jared Polis has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff. The firefighters died near the Utah border after deploying their fire shelters while fighting what would eventually be known as the Snyder Fire, a blaze that crews have now almost completely contained. Several other large wildfires are burning within a few hours of where they died, including one that's forced evacuations outside the mountain town of Ouray. For NPR News, I'm Steena Sieg in Grand Junction, Colorado.
And you're listening to NPR News. Three people died in Wisconsin after a boat capsized on the lake during a storm. Seven others were rescued. Police have now opened an investigation into that accident. Officials say there were many injuries in Wisconsin's Walworth County as the storm knocked down trees and power lines and damaged buildings. Teenagers have the chance to participate in the National Athletic Competition as part of the Trump administration's Freedom 250 celebrations. The competition is being called the Patriot Games. For Member Station KJZZ in Phoenix, Cameron Sanchez reports.
The Trump administration announced the Patriot Games in December of last year and said one young man and one young woman from each state will get to compete at the Capitol. The announcement was met with some pushback, with many Americans noting that it sounds similar to the plot of the dystopian young adult series The Hunger Games. Freedom 250 confirmed on June 29th the games are still on. The chosen athletes, selected from 14- to 17-year-old applicants, will compete next month in Washington, D.C., in what an email from Freedom 250 describes as high-intensity physical and mental challenges.
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