One of the first victims struck by the Dayton, Ohio, shooter during his 32-second rampage that left nine people dead was his younger sister, but whether he intentionally killed her remains unknown more than a week later, the city’s police chief said Tuesday.

Investigators have “radically different views” on whether Connor Betts, 24, targeted his sister, Megan, 22, two hours after they arrived with a friend at a popular strip of nightclubs, Chief Richard Biehl said at a news conference.

Text messages show the gunman knew his sister and their friend were going to a taco stand minutes before he came down an alley and started shooting, Beihl said.

“There’s a real question whether he could see who was on the other side,” Biehl said, adding that it’s possible investigators will never find an answer.

While they don’t know why Betts chose his location or what his motive was, investigators do know a lot about his mindset, including his obsession with and desire to commit a mass shooting, Biehl said.

A video of pieced-together surveillance from businesses showed Betts before the shooting with his sister and their friend, and again after he went to his car and changed into a black hoodie, put on body armor and retrieved a rifle from the trunk.

The three had arrived together at the entertainment district and spent about an hour inside a bar. Betts then left and went to another nightclub by himself before returning to his car, police said.

Police think the friend with Betts didn’t know what he had planned or that he had stashed weapons, Beihl said.

Pakistani capital prepares ban against single-use plastic bags

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Each time someone in Pakistan runs out to the store for a carton of milk, a half-pound of loose sugar or an after-school snack, it comes in a flimsy plastic bag that usually gets thrown away.

If all those bags are added up, officials estimate, they total 55 billion a year, and many end up clogging city drains and sewers or piled up in vacant lots and parks and polluting canals and streams.

Now the government is about to take a drastic first step toward eliminating this public eyesore and environmental hazard. Beginning Wednesday, all single-use polyethylene bags will be banned in the capital region of about 1.5 million people. Anyone who uses, sells or manufactures them will face a fine: $31 for using a single bag; $63 for selling one; and up to $31,000 for manufacturing them.

Russian military orders village evacuation, then cancels it

MOSCOW — The Russian military on Tuesday told residents of a village near a navy testing range to evacuate, but canceled the order hours later, adding to the uncertainty and confusion fueled by a deadly missile explosion last week that led to a brief spike in radiation that frightened residents and raised new questions about the military’s weapons program.

Initially the military told residents of Nyonoksa, a village of about 500, to move out temporarily, citing unspecified activities at the range. But a few hours later, it said the activities were canceled and rescinded the request to leave, Severodvinsk regional administration officials said.

Local media said Nyonoksa residents regularly receive temporary evacuation orders usually timed to tests at the range.

Dreadful heat, humidity invade South as misery continues

ATLANTA — Stifling heat smothered states from Texas to South Carolina on Tuesday with temperatures that felt like 120 degrees, making it difficult to be outside for long, much less work or play.

The entire Southeast baked amid heat warnings and advisories that reached from central Texas to coastal Georgia. Alabama’s largest city, Birmingham, opened its auditorium as a refuge for anyone needing to cool down.

Some high schools and coaches limited football practice for players getting ready for the upcoming season, and social media was dotted with photos showing automobile thermometers with triple-digit readings.

Forecasters said a cold front and storms could lead to a slight midweek cool down.

UN urges EU states to take in stranded migrants

BRUSSELS — The United Nations refugee agency urgently appealed to European governments Tuesday to let two migrant rescue ships disembark more than 500 passengers who remain stranded at sea as countries bicker over who should take responsibility for them.

The people rescued while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa are on ships chartered by humanitarian aid groups that the Italian government has banned from its territory. The archipelago nation of Malta also has refused to let the ships into its ports.

It’s unclear where they might find safe harbor, even though the Italian island of Lampedusa appears closest. About 150 of the rescued passengers have been on the Spanish-flagged charity ship the Open Arms since they were plucked from the Mediterranean 13 days ago.

Women accuse opera legend Domingo of harassment

For decades, Placido Domingo, one of the most celebrated and powerful men in opera, has tried to pressure women into sexual relationships by dangling jobs and then sometimes punishing the women professionally when they refused his advances, numerous accusers told The Associated Press.

Regarded as one of the greatest opera singers of all time, Domingo, 78, also is a prolific conductor and the director of the Los Angeles Opera.

But his accusers and others in the industry say there is a troubling side to Domingo. Eight singers and a dancer have told the AP that they were sexually harassed by the long-married, Spanish-born superstar in encounters that took place over three decades beginning in the late 1980s, at venues that included opera companies where he held top managerial positions.

Voter initiative: Democrat Stacey Abrams, who vaulted onto the national political stage championing voting rights during an unsuccessful 2018 run for Georgia governor, announced Tuesday that she’s launching a multistate voter protection initiative and not running for president in 2020.

Abrams revealed plans for the multimillion-dollar initiative, called Fair Fight 2020, during a speech before a labor union convention in Las Vegas.

The project will staff and fund voter protection teams in battleground states across the country ahead of next year’s elections.

Abrams said her new group will fight “systematic” voter suppression across the country.