The patients to the hospital. We are working to get an update on their condition tonight. Blair now to the race to the white house. Right now, republican candidate donald trump is holding a press conference in maine. Lots of people in the crowd were booing trump. A new poll now trailing Hillary Clinton by 12 points nationally. Thats a pretty big jump. A month ago, 10 points. Now a 12 point ground. Gaining ground among everybody, women, children, seniors and more. Trump took the stage a half hour ago in maine greeted with applause and a smattering of boos. T protesters holding up the constitution similar to mr. Kahn the republican President Shall nominee went on to talk about a number of issues, including the heroin crisis in maine, and took on immigration and made mention of the Boston Marathon bombers. The boston bombers, what a horrible thing that was, arrived through the political asylum process, right, the younger brother applies for citizenship 11th, 2012. The older brother had a pending application for citizenship. Oh, thats wonderful. We take him, right . We take him. And u see what happens. Reporter trump went on to talk about the recent Police Shootings and gun control. Our Sharman Sacchetti is at the event right now hoping to ask trump some questions. Shell have a live report at Elizabeth Hopkins, fox 25 news. Blair and also today, Hillary Clinton is campaigning in las vegas. Clinton and her running mate. In new hampshire, that lead is even greater. Voters there who prefer toward clinton outnumbered Trump Supporters 47 to 32 . And president obama is scheduled to hold a News Conference in a few minutes to talk about isis. Were watching for that to begin and well bring it live here online and on air at beach. But not helping the states drought. New numbers out today show the boston and worcester areas now close to a severe drought. We have Team Coverage on the situation. It starts on fox 25 melanie people melanie getting sick of looking at those brown lawns. Kerry they sure are sick of looking ate. Here we are west of dedham. Driving around town, see a lot 17 signs mandatory water restrictions around town. The latest drought monitor, the worse drought massachusetts has seen in 14 years. There are severe Drought Conditions across 16 of massachusetts which is up 20 in just one week alone. Here its so bad, now considered a long term drought. Now here in the dedham area, there has been a water restriction, where you could water your lawn, it used to be two days a week, now its just down to it is serious. We take it seriously. We have not had a one day restriction for maybe 15 years or so. It may be perceived as punitive by some. We feel you can maintain a lawn with very limited watering. Coming up at 5 00, were working on getting you specific massachusetts. And youll also hear from a couple who says this drought has taken from their well explain at 5 00. Live in dedham, melanie, fox 25 news. And lets bring in meteorologist Sarah Wroblewski, tracking some rain but not enough to put a dent in the drought. Sarah yeah, the drought has extended to over 60 of the state, including boston and worcester area. Of the cape and islands now. And this is going to allow for long term affects especially those with agricultural interests. So thats going to be a concern. But we are anticipating to see some chances of showers, just doesnt look to arrive until we head to the weekend. Because High Pressure is in control. Bringing us the bright sunshine but this front out to the west, thats our next chance of rain. So its going to take its time to get here. With that being said, it was a really pleasant day, sunny skies pushing the temperatures into in the 70s. But it was comfortable out there too. Dew points in the 50s. Were going to hold on to comfortable air in the overnight hours. If youre out and about in this evening. Looking fantastic for outdoor plans. Temperatures fall back in the 50s in boston. 50s in the interior when youre waking up. High temperatures go tomorrow and track that rain for the weekend. Okay. You can track the weather at any time. With the weather app. Free download and track it live blair a new warning from the Boston Fire Department after three major fires ripped through charlestown, east boston and dorchester. Commissioner finn said all fires within the five day span started by cigarettes. The result of dangerous trend people not using water or sand to put out their cigarettes. Material accumulates on the porches. It doesnt take much for a cigarette to get a little wind a these significant fires. Those three fires caused 10 million in damages and 54 people lost their homes. Happening now, the cdc holding a News Conference in florida where there are now 15 confirmed cases of zika. Mark ockerbloom standing by, thor director said he wanted to travel to miami to see affected areas himself. He said he was impressed with what he saw. He says florida is taking all of theres not a epidemic in the state. Aerial spraying this morning the area. A lot of mosquitos were killed. That affected area is very populated few miles. Right now trying to create a buffer zone to keep it from spreading. While federal and state officials do their part. People also need to help out. Theres something everyone can do, as the government says, get rid of standing water. Sounds. This mosquito can breed in a bottle cap. You have to get rid of any Containers Holding standing water, a coffee cup, a paint can, a garbage can thats not covered. A dumpster thats not covered. Trash that can support a little bit of water when it rains. Major effort to clean that entire area and eliminate areas where theres standing water. Also asked the cdc for 10,000 more zika protection kits, also allowed to go to Health Department to get were continuing to monitor the News Conference and bring you any details. Blair. Blair family and friends said a final goodbye to today to the 7yearold boston child who drowned while at a city run day camp. A funeral for kyzr willis was held in mattapan. He died last week from a accidental drowning. During the service, his uncle said his nephew will leave a lasting impact. Its a tragedy that the situation happened. All of this is that kyzr at the young age that he is, actually saving lives today. Hes saving other childrens lives. Blair kyzrs death prompted the city to put new programs in affect, prompting all children to wear life jackets at any time. A deadly knife attack in in london was not an act of the last 10 minutes, the American Woman was identified as a wife of Florida State university professor. Benjamin hall is in london with more on what we know about the attacker. Reporter an american is dead following an attack in the british capital. 60yearold woman among the people stabbed here in russell square. Those injured were aus stillian american, british. Will could whats necessary to support them. Reporter police using a stun gun to take down the suspect. Finding no link to terrorism. And Officials Say the stabbing may have been triggered by Mental Health issues. At this time we believe its a spontaneous act and ha the victims were selected at random. Reporter Great Britain has strict gun control laws. Attacks here are not uncommon. British police do not carry guns. More following the incident. Happened shortly after the Authorities Say announced more armed officers will be going on patrol following recent attacks in you were why. We want to deter the attackers and make sure were serious about the we want to make sure that all of us to keep london as an out city safe. London has 31,000 Police Officers, less than 3,000 of into effect. In london benjamin hall, fox news. A woman seriously hurt when her boat was caught in the middle of two others racing by. After our story aired last night at 10 00, police say started pouring in on the investigation. Ahead in the heat index half hour, the reason those boaters could be charged even if police determined this was an accident. One of the largest Construction Projects ever in massachusetts is a go. The wynn casino in it will open and how it will look. Tracking weather into the weekend. Where we could see 90 on friday plus when were expecting our next chance of storms. Taking a live look right now into the pentagon where the president is expected to update . A quick considerection to the story we just mentioned out of london, six people stabbed today in the attack, one of them died. That today boston residents will have a chance to get in the citys plans to put body cameras on Police Officers. Holding a hearing at the Community Hearing center. The Community Wants to provide 100 cameras to officers for a six month trial. Last month they reached an agreement with the police union to start a pilot program. Boston among the largest kepts in the country that doesnt use cameras. A judge ordered the pit bull attacked a woman and her dog last week. She suffered a severe hand injury, the woman told us be and her dog in so much pain it cant move. In court today, learned the pit bull actually built another person in lynn years ago. That dog supposed to be on a leash and have a muzzle. So to owner is now facing criminal charges. A man accused of robbing a store at a mall at game stop just b last seen heading up toward union street. The fox 25 Storm Tracker weather team. Sarah the latest krout numbers coming in this morning. I want to show you how much rain weve received so far this month. In boston not too far below the normal. It is day four. Worcester picked up an inch of to date, were more than 7 inches below normal. That has put us at dry to date on record. So we are really dealing with very dry conditions. And our chances of rain as we head into the weekend, quite slim. Looks as though if next couple of days well really only see our best chance of some showers, even a few thunderstorms arrive on saturday before another dry stretch of weather moves on in. So High Pressure that brought us beautiful sunshine for the day today. I know grateful for all of those any outdoor plans but boy, we really do need the rain. The next chance looks for the cold front to come way from the west. Going to take its time to get here we are have another 24 hours. Its 80 degrees right now. Dew points in the 50s. So while its been warm, quietly comfortable too. Hopefully you get outside to enjoy that wind out of the southeast currently. As we go over the next 12 hours, occurred just before 8 00, 7 59, so enjoy it while you can. Once it does set, temperatures back in the 60s. A nice evening. Perhaps grilling outside. Clear skies, the winds remain out of the south. Temperatures fall back to the 60s through boston. Through the interior may drop back to the 50s. Open the windows give the ac a break. A comfortable night for sleeping. With winds out of the south southwest. Going to push temperatures into the upper 90s, near 80 in some spots. Cooler for the cape and islands. Also noticed scattered clouds in then after. A little bit of rise in humidity. But still comfortable out there. High temperatures tomorrow look like this. Mid 80s along the coast. Into Merrimack Valley into parts of new hampshire, touchingt 0 degrees. Mid 80s down across the southeast, mid 80s too. And then for the cape and islands, with that wind off of the cooler temperatures, Ocean Temperatures now in the 70s. Topping out in the 70s to near 80 degrees. A really nice beach day as well. Maybe an earlier start to your beach plan, travelling across new england, warm across the region, into the 80s into parts of maine, with scattered clouds going to be dry. There for the weekend. Be aware on saturday. The Prediction Center a marginal risk to strong to even severe storms for friday. That means we could see an develop as we go through the weekend. Let me show you what it looks like on future cast. You wake up on friday, mostly sunny skies. A few clouds in the afternoon. Clouds increase friday night. By saturday morning, quite humid. The risk of some showers, thunderstorms, through the day and into the evening hours. Any breaks in the cloud cover will allow for any pop up showers and thunderstorms on saturday. The good news is, once that front comes on through saturday, by sunday, we clear things out, and then weve got another dry stretch of weather as we head into early next week, perhaps our next chance of showers and storms arrive Late Wednesday to thursday. Theres the latest look at your forecast. Blair while sarah was talking, we got breaking news about the zika virus, 8 pregnant women in illinois now confirmed to of the virus, this brings the total case of zika in that state to 46. Theres no word right now about where the new cases came from or if there will be any tve seeing in miami. Well keep an eye on this story for you this afternoon. Workers in Critical Condition. Of i was standing at the counter, it was like all hell broke loose. That fell that gave a woman 3rd degree burns and now heres Elizabeth Hopkins with what were working on at 5 00. Elizabeth a d. C. Transit officer who trained the mans passed on to terrorists. In the past 40 minutes, the director of the c. D. C. Says its not going to be easy the mosquitos virus in florida. All new at 5 00, the guess what i just did . Built a sandcastle . Ha, no, i switched to geico and got more. More . 24 7 access online, on the phone or with the geico app. Everybody likes more. Mhm, i think so. Geico. Expect great savings and a whole lot more. Thank you so much. Did you say honey . Hey, try some . Mmm that is tasty. Is it real . Of course. Are you . Nope animated you know im always looking for real honey for honey nut cheerios well youve come to the right place. Great, mind if i have another taste . Not at all youre all right bud . Never better i dont know if he likes that. Blair miller a reported shark sights only five feet from shore brought swimmers out of the water at Marthas Vineyard. They claim the shark was about so feet long biologists say its unlikely a hammer head because they dont normally swim so close to shore. Police searching for the shooter who fired at a car yesterday afternoon. An officer nearby heard gunfire and raced to the scene and found a bullet hole in the front and back windshield. No one was heard and the owner didnt know what happened. Police now dusting the car for finger print. Polic killing two High School Students in atlanta both shot in the head. Police searching a home collecting evidence. Neighbors cant believe someone in their community can be connected to such a brutal murder. It seemed even over the top for children to get murdered, but in that kind of fashion, i dont understand it. Police believe the 20yearold suspect acted alone. They arent releasing any information about a motive or whether he knew the victims. Entertained fans for 19 years at bush gardens had to be put down after a park visitor went on a rampage. Police say a man reached across the flamingo enclosure, grabbed the bird and apparently slammed it to the ground. And a little b watched all of this in horror as theing unfold yeah, i was crying theole way there. So i was like running as fast as i can to help him. Blair 45yearold man was arre now facing felony animal cruelty charges. Incredible video coming into the newsroom today. A truck dangles from a bridge after a crash. How the driver explained the crash and why a lot of homeowners were upset with what he was hauling. Tracking wet weather as we . . Sfx crowd cheering sfx crowd chanting . . Sfx crowd cheering . . Sc johnson, a Family Company hood new england creamery. With ingredients like swirls of caramel. . Every flavor is so good, its hard to believe theyre real. . Bobby. Youre doing it again. 14 unforgettable flavors of delicious, premium ice cream. Always good. Always hood. For a limited time, try new hoodwich and maple flavored french toast. The sun beating down on the city of boston as we take good evening, everybody, im kerry kavanaugh. And im blair miller, Sarah Wroblewski joins us now. In the last half hour, the drought the toll is having on our state. Sarah right, it doesnt look like any steady rain in our future, sarah. Yeah, we need a really good soaking of rain. We do have chances in the upcoming days it doesnt look like enough to put a dent into a the severe drought which we have across the region. Ill show you the numbers later this half hour. That means weve seen sunshine, weve seen pleasant conditions. You have to go way back here back toward the upper midwest, cold front coming on through. Sparking showers and thunderstorms. Thats our next chance of showers and thunderstorms. It will make its way eastward by the weekend. Weve got another day of dry and bright conditions. If youve got any outdoor plans headed your way for tomorrow. Looking okay. But it is a bit different than today. Ill show you why. Currently the temperatures right now are in the 80s for the most part. Down a islands, weve got the 70s with that wind off of the water. Very pleasant this evening. Dew points, too are in the 50s. So very comfortable out there for any Outdoor Activities and well hold on to the very comfortable conditions to the overnight hours. Dew points mostly in the 40s and 50s. Come tomorrow, notice some of the dew points rising with that warmer weather headed our way too. If you have plans this evening right around 7 00, temperatures still near 80, metrowest into the 70s in boston. Evening hours tonight, still in the 70s by 10 30, overnight back into the 60s, 50s away from the coast. Cool and comfortable conditions, open up the windows and warm things up comfortably tomorrow. With temperatures getting close to lower 80s by 11 00 and gets even hotter. Ill show you where we could see 90 degrees. Plus tracking the next chance of shower by 9 p. M. B this afternoon as crews finally got to work, the first shovels hit the ground just after 1 00. And Las Vegas Casino mogul steven wynn behind the project set to open in three years. Fox 25 ted daniel live there. He fought hard for this one but wasnt there today. Reporter given the magnitude of this project, i think its very surprising that steven wynn did not show up. According to his people, hes dealing with another casino hes they needed 37 permits to build here. The last permit was finalized just yesterday. Five years at voters said yes to casino gambling in massachusetts. Two, one. Reporter wynn resorts say its all in on the construction of the first las vegas style resort in the eastern part of the state. Today really launches the official start ofco this is what the 2 billion dollar facility will look like. This is some of the 4,000 construction workers needed to build it. It will build a hotel, multiple restaurants, meeting place, harbor walk, and slot machine and table games. This is the future advancement of the largest single phase private construction project in the on the mystic river, a land once home to a chemical plant. Before the steel can be erected, a lot, and i mean a lot of contaminated soil will need to be removed. We have 500,000 tons of soil to get out of this site in the next six months. Reporter wynn hopes to frame by 2017, move to ahead by 201 and open the summer of 2019. This is expected to be the first las vegas sle boston area. But it will not be the first to open in the state. Right now m. G. M. Is building one out in springfield and they want to open in 2018. Wynn had to face a lot of legal hurdles to get this far. And there are still some to go, even though construction is underway. What the mayor of somerville has to do with the legal challenges coming up at 5 30. For now live in leverett im ted allegedly kidnapped a twoyearold girl and left her naked on the side of the road will face prison time if she please guilty. He will likely sentence Abigail Hanna to prison time of the higher sentencing guidelines if she please guilty to kidnapping and she could face up to 7 and a half years. He wants to hear from the parents of the little girl first before he makes her decision. In november, she was found on the side of the road covered in cigarette burns with her head av officer facing charges that he stole tens of thousands of dollars, glen pearson used his new job to also steal money from the irs. Kathryn burcham is live for us and his business is still up and runs. Reporter yeah, we actually watched glen pearson walk into his, this afternoon. He didnt respond to our requests for comments. While his sign out in the front. Tax returns effective immediately. A businessman on the other side of the law. A Police Sergeant month were a decade, arrested tuesday on federal charges involving his new job. In an indictment, pearson committed tax fraud at his agency by filing false tense forms for climates inflating their refunds. Between 2007 and 2012, pearson worked as a fiduciary area for the office of veterans affairs. Essentially a trustee and stole veterans. Veterans advocates say the man pearson was supposed to be helping ranging in age from 59 to 89 were the most vulnerable, unable to handle their own affairs or care for themselves. You have a you have a former Police Officer who everyone would feel they could trust. And then he reaches out and works with veterans and once again, you feel you could be saddest part. Reporter and served the town as a Police Officer. His record here was tarnished when he was fired in 2001. Coming up at 5 00, were digging through the city documents that outline the shocking allegations that led to his termination. For now live in whitman, im kathryn burcham, fox 25 news. Well see you at 5 00, catherine. Lowell police not expected to charge the two people that hit two people. Police say the man and woman were into branch street last night of the woman suffered a severe head injury and in Critical Condition at last check. The man treated an released a source told fox 25 that the driver may have been blinded by solar glare. A fouryearold found unresponsive in this lynn homeless shelter last year died of Natural Causes thats a newly released report of the Massachusetts Department of children and families. Dcf looking into the death of endangerment, but found he died from complications of pneumonia not the result of abuse. Blair fox 25 crews on the scene yesterday as workers pulled cat after cat out of the house. They believe there are many still left inside. The home on School Street in upton has been condemned. Neighbors say the stench from the house was unbearable. Two adult sisters lived there and neighbors tell us more than 100 calculates removed home five years ago. Police trying to figure out if two men released from a car chase are responsible for a pair of break ins. Officers went after the pair after breaking into a home wednesday afternoon. The car had stolen massachusetts license plates covering up the real pretty from connecticut. Police believe the men may be responsible for about 10 other break ins. An elite rhode island boarding school has agreed to a settlement over sexual abuse alleged victims. The allegations come as far back as the 1970s and as recently as the the thousand 2000s. No amount of compensation can make up to the damage that happened to the victims but its a step in the right direction. And we want to support these victims as they go through the healing process. An mediator will determine how much each person will receive. Star tracks of will get back on her feet. Ruth, their asian elephant is Getting Better because of bread from not your average shows. Ruth did not eat for several days last month. A lifethreatening stomach problem. That changed when the staff gave her left over blood. The restaurant donated more bread. And medicine, so ruth could get healthier, vets put in it. Are furious with corporate for trying to give their bosses company said its Top Executive deserved million in bonuses while the company was in liquidation mode. But first a must see video of the day. As semitruck dangles from a bridge. How the driver missed his curve straight ahead. A News Conference from the fios is not cable. Were wired differently. So we wired the wagners house with 100 meg internet. Which means that in the time it takes mr. Wagner to pour a 20 oz. Cup of coffee, tommy can download 30 songs, and jan can upload 120 photos. 12 seconds. Thats the power of fiber optics. And right now you can get 100 meg internet with equal upload and dowloads speeds, tv and phone for just 69. 99 per month online. Could be a flaw with the credit cards were using for the chip cards. It could rewrite the code to make it appear like a chipless card. And allows the thieves to keep counterfeiting of the flaw original bolstered by retailers forced to use the cards. The chip upgrade could cost them 25 billion. Apple apparently the place to be if looking for equal pay. Company released a report on inclusion and diversion city this every dollar male employees earned. The pay equity goal focused on similar roles and performances. The cab of a tractor trailer left dangling off of an overpass in florida this morning. Theres that video showing the tow trucks working to get it back on the road. This happened north of miami. The driver said he didnt see the ramp and by the time he saw what was happening, it was too late. Gas tank started leaking so hazmat crews had to be called in. Spilling hot grease from the friars on top of three workers. The damage inside churchs chicken in houston. One man ordering his food there when it happened. I was standing at the counter. And it was like all hell broke loose. It was right there. They all three fell. That man went right over to help the three employees. They were all taken toit caused that collapse. It is a traffic stop out of this world. The Reason Police were not spooked at all. When they pulled over this flying saucer. A sunny and dry right now. Already tracking our next chance of rain, ill show you when to check possible severe weather. A woman described close call, that left her friend with a broken spine. Didnt have time to collect right. Police arrested two people after a home break in and near escape in weymouth. Christopher welch and tanya appeared in Quincy District Court today. He broke into a home yesterday and when he was discovered he ran off and jumped into the back of the car. An officer spotted the car with codare row in the drivers seat. No sign of welch until he that near collision left a woman with injuries and fox 25 ted daniel spoke with the woman who witnessed the whole thing. Reporter this trip to Marthas Vineyard started as any sunny day on the water should. All smiles. Boat. Two friends also on board. I offered to take us out on the been to the vineyard before. So we were really excited. Reporter about an hour into panic. Dangerously close. Creating a large wake. We didnt have time before being rocked around, up, down, left and reporter this boat is one foot bigger and similar in desi sitting at the bow facing the center console. When the wake hit, it popped her up into the air and right back down on to the hard seat. That friend asked to be identified only by her first name, sarah. I spoke with her by phone. Definitely excruciating but also my body was just in shock. At first i didnt i tried not to move. Reporter as soon as the sarah was flown by helicopter to mass. General in boston with a severe spinal injury. Lauren says the speed boat operators appeared to be racing when they swamped her dads boat. And her likely unaware of the suffering they left in tow. I think need to be smarter anmpathetic to to boaters. Operator or website, fox25boston. Com. U. Mass. Lowell student had to have part of her leg amputated following a moped crash on the vineyard. She suffered the severe leg injury and moran is also recovering after emergency surgery. Both women from new hampshire. Happening now, smoke and skies in indonesia as three flights at two airports have been disrupted in that region. They say no good deed goes unpunished. A teenager in california got fired from his job at a Fast Food Restaurant for giving a veteran free food. Surveillance video at the jack in the Box Restaurant caught the 19yearold giving the veteran free tacos when confronted he admitted to giving other freebies to the veteran in the past because he was a veteran. Di right to them but he was fired because of more than one incident, the company says, nothing to do with being a customer being a veteran. Now your local forecast with teorologist Storm Tracker weather team. Sarah weve had a string of dry conditiotins. Ll tropical s were tracking Tropical Storm earl pushing into mexico. And while a lot of the watches and warnings have been discontinued for this storm, let to experience from now until the weekend, some places will see more than a foot, an isolated 18 inches over the terrain. Well continue to monitor the situation. It doesnt look like a lot of the moisture will get scooped up into our forecast. Although we really could use some rain not all at that one time. But were well below average for that time of year. And the current rain fall deficit does show a severe drought across actually got pushed further south this morning for parts of southeastern areas and the moderate drought extends parts of the cape and islands as well as well as the majority of massachusetts. In fact, over 60 of our state is experiencing a severe drought. That is going to create some long term impacts, likely going to cause some problems for crops as we head into the fall. So we really desperately need the rain. Around we do have a few chances of rain. But the heat not really helping conditions. Today, temperatures, 82 in boston. Hit 90 in lawrence. Mid to upper 80s. Above average for this time of year. Were going to continue to see some very hot conditions. Well talk more about the thunderstorm chance coming up. But now back to you guys. Blair happening now president obama updating, before he leaves from Marthas Vineyard, lets go ahead and listen in. At least hosting us and for their continued leadership of our men and women in people on our campaign in june, shortly after the horrifying attack in orlando. In the week since, weve continued to be relentless in our fight against isis. And on the ground in syria and iraq, isil continues to lose territory. Tragically, however, weve also seen that isil still has the ability to direct and inspire attacks. So weve seen terrible bombings saudi arabia, yemen and istanbul airport. Celebrations at a church in france and a Music Festival in germany. In fact, the decline of isil in syria and iraq causes it to be shifting it to tactics weve seen before, even greater emphasizes on encouraging home grown terrorist attacks including in the united states. As always, our diplomatic and Law Enforcement professionals are working around the clock. With other countries and with those at home to share information and prevent such attacks of over the years theyve prevented many. But as weve seen, it is still very difficult to detect and protect loan actors of small cells, who are determined to kill the innocent and are willing to die. So thats why as we discussed today, were going to keep going our air Campaign Continues to hammer isil targets, more than 14,000 strikes so far. More than 100,000 sort tees, including those hitting the isil core in rack caand in mosul, American Armed forces will continue to do everything within our power to avoid civilian casualties. With our Extraordinary Technology were conducting the most precise military campaign in history. After all it is the innocent civilians in iraq and syria who are suffering the most and who need to be saved from isils terror. So when there are allegations of civilian casualties we take them very seriously. We work to find the facts to be transparent and to hold ourselves accountable for doing better in the future. We continue to take out senior includes deputies ministers of war, a top manneder at mosul, and yet another significant loss for isil its minister of war umar sha shoddy. None of the isil leaders are safe and were going to keep going after them. On the ground in iraq, keep pushing isil forces back. Iraqi forces with fallujah. We took the Strategic Air base at keyiar rajust 40 hours from mosul. Given the success, the additional 560 u. S. Support personnel that i ordered to iraq last month will help to turn and rock bed for forces a it is they push into mosul. Air strikes continues to take the fight to isil as well. The Coalition Fighting its way into the town of monday witch, a gate way for terrorists coming in and terrorists heading out why is why isil is working hard to hold it. As isil is fighting back, thousands of documents, drives, digital files we will use to keep destroying isils networks and stop for reason fighters we also continue to intensify our efforts against al al qaeda, which one call itself not be a toibl maintain safe haven to train and plot attacks against us. I do want to step back and note the broader progress made in this campaign so far. Two years ago, isil was racing across iraq, to the outskirts of baghdad itself. Inconveniencesible. Since then in iraq isil has lost at the damn at sinjar, at ramadi, at heap, and now fallujah. And tishwandan and altaddi. With turkey turkey transit routes into rubbing ca. Isis has not been able to reclaim any significant territory that it has lost. I want to repeat isil has not a major Successful Operation in either syria or iraq in over a full year. Even though isil leaders know theyre going to keep losing in their he issage to followers theyre increasingly acknowledging theyre losing to and theyre right, they will lose them. Well keep heighting them back until they do. In other words, isil turns out including with vicious attacks on defenseless civilians. Medieval sieges against cities like allepo and blocking food from families that are starving. It is deplorable and the depravity of the southeastern regime has earned the ire of the world. The u. S. Work with russia to try to reduce the violence, and strengthen our efforts against isil and al qaeda and syria. But so far, russia has failed to take the necessary steps. Given the deteriorating situation, it is time for russia to show that it is serious about pursuing these objectives. Beyond syria and iraq, well keep working with allied partners to go after isil wherever it tries to spread. Support the governments efforts to secure their country. In afghanistan, one of the reasons that i decided to largely maintain our current force posture was so that we ded another blow last month when we took out a top isil leader in afghanistan omar it should be clear by now and no one knows it better than military leaders, even as we need to crush isil on the battlefield, their militaryuv defeat will not be enough. So long as their twisted ideology persists and drives people to violence and groups like isil will keep emerging. And the International Community will continue to be at risk in getting sucked into the kind of global whackamo where were violent attack. Including the social economic and political factors that help fuel groups like isil and al qaeda in the first place. Nothing will do more to discredit isil, and its claims to being a cala fate than when it loses its base in iraq and mosul and were going to keep working with partners, including muslim countries and communities officially on line to expose isil for what they are. Muer people, including muim break their ramadan fast and set off bombs in medina near the prophets mosque, one of the holiest sighs in islam. In addition, we will one of the reasons Americas Armed forces are the best in the world is because we draw on the skills and talents of all of our sill sends from all backgrounds muslimamericans who risk and freedom. Ir les i think the entire world was inspired this past sunday when muslims across france joined their catholic neighbors at mass, and in a moving display of solidarity, prayed together. Greeting the extent of each other has to be the message we echo in all of our countries and all of our communities. Peace be with up and also with you. Now, before i take some questions, i also want to say a few words on another topic. As our Public Health experts have been wain we are now seeing the first locally transmitted cases of the zika virus. By mosquitoes in the continental united states. This was predicted and predictable. So far, weve seen 15 cases in the miami area. Were taking this extremely seriously, our c. D. C. Experts are on the groundworking shoulder to shoulder with Florida Health authorities, there is a very aggressive effort underway to control mosquitoes there, and pregnant neighborhood that were focused on. Well keep working as one team, federal, state and local to try to slow and limit the spread of the virus. I do want to be very clear though. Our Public Health experts do not expect to see the kind of widespread outbreaks of zika here that weve seen in brazil or in pyrotechnic. Pyrotechnic. In puerto rico. The kind of mosquitoes that are most likely to carry zika are limited to certain regions of our country, but we cannot be complacent, because we though the symptoms for those people are mild, many may never even know that they have it. Weve seen that the complications for pregnant women and their babies cant can be severe, so i again want to encourage every american to learn what they can do to help see car engulfed by going to c. D. C. Gov. In addition, Congress Needs to do its job, fighting zika costs money