Good morning, and welcome to Kid News. I'm Tori. It's Monday, May 23, 2022, and we begin

with Memorial Day, considered to be the unofficial start of summer, still a week away, but it

felt like a mid-summer heatwave this weekend over a large part of the U.S.

Cities and towns from Texas to Massachusetts tied or broke heat records with temps at

least 20 degrees above what residents are used to this time of year. The blast of hot air

started in the southwest and has moved east and north. Meanwhile, Denver, Colorado had some

real whiplash weather with a high of 90 during the week and then snowfall on Friday night.

Of course, other parts of the world are feeling even more extreme heat. In India and Pakistan,

they've had temperatures up to 120 degrees in the last two months. Monsoons are forecast to arrive

next week, and should provide some much-needed relief.

President Biden is in the middle of a five-day visit to Asia with stops in South Korea and Japan.

His main goal is to assure these two key allies that the U.S. is committed to being a reliable,

security, and economic partner. He started the journey in Seoul, South Korea on Friday where his

first stop was a computer chip plant. A shortage of these tiny electronic circuits has limited the

supply of many items around the world, like cars, kitchen appliances, and toys. Mr. Biden arrived

in Tokyo, Japan last night, and is expected to meet with that country's emperor and the Prime

Minister later today. He's also visiting American troops that are stationed in both countries

to thank them for their service. Australia elected a new president over the weekend, and in this

country, election day is often treated like a party. Anthony Albanese defeated the incumbent

Scott Morrison and promised stronger action on climate change and rebuilding relations with foreign

leaders, which is fairly standard political talk. But what makes this country's elections quite

unique is that voting has been mandatory since 1924. It always takes place on a Saturday,

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