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Stranded Hindu devotees cover themselves with cloths as they walk in the rain in Katra, India, on Tuesday. The Mata Vaishno Devi Yatra pilgrimage was suspended for a third day amid persistent heavy rainfall and adverse weather conditions. The Associated Press

Nation

District of Columbia

Panel advances intelligence nominee

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Intelligence Committee has advanced the nomination of Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump's pick to head the nation's intelligence agencies. The vote was along party lines.

The 9-8 vote came after some Democrats had praised Clayton and indicated that they might vote for him. But that shifted after a contentious hearing last week in which Clayton repeatedly refused to say that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

GOP tees up government funding bill

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans will aim to head-off a potential government shutdown before this fall's midterm elections with a vote to fund the federal government through Dec. 4.

The deadline for action is more than two months away. But House GOP leaders are not leaving to chance that a possible shutdown sours the mood of voters.

Court rejects Biden bid to block audio

WASHINGTON -- Joe Biden disagrees with an appeals court's rejection of his effort to block the release of audio recordings of his interviews with a memoir ghostwriter.

Biden spokesperson T.J. Ducklo said Tuesday the Democrat's pre-presidency conversations "for a book a decade ago that discussed his late son" were private and were given to the Justice Department on the condition they stay that way. A divided three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found there's a substantial public interest in disclosing the material Republicans demanded.

World

Ukraine

Zelenskyy fires military chief

KYIV -- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces.

The decision on Tuesday followed days of mass protests in Kyiv, the country's capital, and other cities demanding his removal. At the same time as he fired Syrskyi, the Ukrainian leader appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new army chief.

India

Tunnel blast leaves at least 12 dead

GUWAHATI -- A suspected gas explosion has caused a tunnel collapse at a hydropower project in India's Sikkim state, near the Chinese border, leaving at least 12 people dead and 13 missing.

The blast occurred Monday at Samardung village during construction on the Teesta hydroelectric project. Survivors reported hearing a loud explosion before debris trapped dozens inside.

Afghanistan

Rescuers search for missing after floods

KABUL -- Rescue crews in Afghanistan are searching for survivors and bodies among the rubble of buildings destroyed by devastating flash floods that authorities say have killed nearly two dozen people and left more than 100 people missing.

The Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority said Tuesday that 23 people have died, 80 have been injured and more than 100 are missing after the floods struck the eastern province of Nuristan, causing an undetermined number of buildings to collapse.

Starting at /week.