These are a few of tonight’s stories
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Biden lays out US vax donations, urges world leaders to join
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Message in a jacket: Jill Biden offers ‘love’ during UK trip
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Bruised but unbowed, meme stock investors are back for more
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UN: Climate and extinction crises must be tackled together
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The Latest: Pot-for-shots plan stumbles in Washington state
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3rd guilty plea in South Carolina nuclear project failure
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Deeply divided Peru awaits final results of presidential vote
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Husband Of Rioter Killed in Capitol Attack Wants Name Of Officer
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California appeals judge's ruling that overturned state's ban on assault-style weapons
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The First Two B-21 Bombers Are Nearly Complete—and the Air Force Already Wants More of 'Em
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Lake Mead falls to lowest level since 1930s amid worsening drought
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Attending Her Last G-7, Merkel Has Had Enough of U.S. Leadership
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AP News
Biden lays out US vax donations, urges world leaders to join
President Joe Biden urged global leaders Thursday to join him in sharing coronavirus vaccines with struggling nations around the world after he promised the U.S. would donate 500 million doses to help speed the pandemic’s end and bolster the strategic position of the world’s wealthiest democracies.
Speaking in England before a summit of the Group of Seven world leaders, Biden announced the U.S. commitment to vaccine sharing, which comes on top of 80 million doses he has already pledged by the end of the month. He argued it was in both America’s interests and the world’s to make vaccination widely and speedily available everywhere.
“We’re going to help lead the world out of this pandemic working alongside our global partners,” Biden said. He added that on Friday the G-7 nations would join the U.S. in outlining their vaccine donation commitments.
Israel’s Netanyahu lashes out as end of his era draws near
In what appear to be the final days of his historic 12-year rule, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not leaving the political stage quietly.
The longtime leader is accusing his opponents of betraying their voters, and some have needed special security protection.
Netanyahu says he is the victim of a “deep state” conspiracy. He speaks in apocalyptic terms when talking about the country without his leadership.
“They are uprooting the good and replacing it with the bad and dangerous,” Netanyahu told the conservative Channel 20 TV station this week. “I fear for the destiny of the nation.”
Message in a jacket: Jill Biden offers ‘love’ during UK trip
Jill Biden is sending a sartorial message of “love” as she accompanies her husband President Joe Biden overseas.
The first lady wore a black jacket with the word “love” outlined on the back in silver beading as she and the president met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Thursday. She wore the same jacket more than two years ago to kick off Biden’s presidential campaign.
“We’re bringing love from America,” she told reporters, explaining her fashion choice.
“This is a global conference and we are trying to bring unity across the globe and I think it’s needed right now, that people feel a sense of unity from all the countries and feel a sense hope after this year of the pandemic.”
UN: Climate and extinction crises must be tackled together
To save the planet, the world needs to tackle the crises of climate change and species loss together, taking measures that fix both and not just one, United Nations scientists said.
A joint report Thursday by separate U.N. scientific bodies that look at climate change and biodiversity loss found there are ways to simultaneously attack the two global problems, but some fixes to warming could accelerate extinctions of plants and animals.
For example, measures such as expansion of bioenergy crops like corn, or efforts to pull carbon dioxide from the air and bury it, could use so much land — twice the size of India — that the impact would be “fairly catastrophic on biodiversity,” said co-author and biologist Almut Arneth at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany.
French man gets 4-month prison sentence for slapping Macron
A 28-year-old Frenchman who described himself as a right-wing or extreme-right “patriot” was sentenced to four months in prison Thursday for slapping President Emmanuel Macron in the face.
Damien Tarel was also banned from ever holding public office in France and from owning weapons for five years over the swipe Tuesday, which caught Macron’s left cheek with an audible thwack as the French leader was greeting a crowd.
During Thursday’s trial, Tarel testified that the attack was impulsive and unplanned, and prompted by anger at France’s “decline.”
US unemployment claims fall to 376,000, sixth straight drop
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell for the sixth straight week as the U.S. economy, held back for months by the coronavirus pandemic, reopens rapidly.
Jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 376,000 from 385,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The number of people signing up for benefits exceeded 900,000 in early January and has fallen more or less steadily ever since. Still, claims are high by historic standards. Before the pandemic brought economic activity to a near-standstill in March 2020, weekly applications were regularly coming in below 220,000.
Bruised but unbowed, meme stock investors are back for more
After feeling the thrill of victory early this year by singlehandedly causing GameStop’s stock to soar — only to get crushed when it quickly crashed back to earth — armies of smaller-pocketed and novice investors are back for more.
These undaunted investors have resuscitated GameStop shares back above $300, up from $40 in February after plunging from a peak of $347. They’re also hauling new stocks onto the bandwagon they say is heading for the moon, including the lesser-known health insurance company Clover Health Investments.
This second wave of leaps for meme stocks are just as staggering — the movie theater chain AMC Entertainment soared to $62 last week from $2 early this year — and once again professional Wall Street is calling the gains illogical. Many of these professionals had predicted the phenomenon of regular, small-fry investors piling into a stock en masse and sending it incredibly higher would fizzle out, particularly after they felt the pain of losing some money.
The Texas bar association is investigating whether state Attorney General Ken Paxton’s failed efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election based on bogus claims of fraud amounted to professional misconduct.
The State Bar of Texas initially declined to take up a Democratic Party activist’s complaint that Paxton’s petitioning of the U.S. Supreme Court to block Joe Biden’s victory was frivolous and unethical. But a tribunal that oversees grievances against lawyers overturned that decision late last month and ordered the bar to look into the accusations against the Republican official.
The investigation is yet another liability for the embattled attorney general, who is facing a years-old criminal case, a separate, newer FBI investigation, and a Republican primary opponent who is seeking to make electoral hay of the various controversies. It also makes Paxton one of the highest profile lawyers to face professional blowback over their roles in Donald Trump’s effort to delegitimize his defeat.
The Latest: Pot-for-shots plan stumbles in Washington state
Washington state’s new “joints for jabs” vaccination incentive program is off to a rough start.
Seeking to get more people to get the coronavirus shots, officials announced this week that the state’s nearly 500 licensed marijuana retailers could begin hosting vaccine clinics and offering a single, free pre-rolled marijuana cigarette to those who get a shot.
But cannabis retailers say many of them don’t have the space to host clinics. And some health care providers are uneasy about setting up a clinic on the site of a marijuana business.
The pot retailers also complain that they have to have an onsite clinic while the state allows breweries and wineries to give away drinks to customers who merely show proof of vaccination — no onsite clinic required.
Culture of Corruption: ex-UAW leader gets 28-month sentence
He plotted to steal up to $1.5 million in union dues, and the money he diverted was spent on golf clubs, vacation homes, booze and lavish meals, fostering a culture of corruption within the United Auto Workers union.
Now former UAW president Gary Jones will have to spend 28 months in a federal prison and repay thousands of dollars for his crimes.
Jones, 64, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Paul Borman in Detroit after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy last year. Borman ordered that Jones surrender for his term in 90 days and recommended a low-security federal prison in Seagoville, Texas, so he would be close to his wife who now lives near Dallas.
3rd guilty plea in South Carolina nuclear project failure
A former official for the contractor hired to build two South Carolina nuclear reactors that were never completed pleaded guilty Thursday to lying to federal authorities.
Carl Churchman entered the plea in federal court, court records show.
Churchman was the project director for Westinghouse Electric Co., the lead contractor to build two new reactors at the V.C. Summer plant. South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. parent company SCANA Corp. and state-owned utility company Santee Cooper spent nearly $10 billion on the project before halting construction in 2017 following Westinghouse’s bankruptcy.
The failure cost ratepayers and investors billions and left nearly 6,000 people jobless.
Al Jazeera News
India sees biggest spike in COVID deaths after state revises toll
India has reported its highest ever single-day death toll from COVID-19 – 6,148 deaths – after an eastern state sharply raised its figures to account for people who succumbed to the disease at home or in private hospitals.
The health department of Bihar, one of India’s poorest states, revised its total COVID-related death toll on Wednesday to more than 9,400 from about 5,400.
India’s total COVID caseload now stands at nearly 29.2 million after rising by 94,052 in the past 24 hours, while total fatalities are at 359,676, according to data from the health ministry.
Deeply divided Peru awaits final results of presidential vote
Peruvians are still waiting on the final results of their country’s presidential election, as leftist union leader Pedro Castillo maintains a razor-thin edge over right-wing Keiko Fujimori days after the deeply polarised vote.
With 99.8 percent of the ballots counted on Wednesday afternoon, Castillo had 50.19 percent support compared with Fujimori’s 49.8 percent.
Sunday’s runoff came amid years of political instability in Peru, which is also struggling to cope with surging COVID-19 infections and deaths and a pandemic-related economic downturn.
Patch.com
Husband Of Rioter Killed in Capitol Attack Wants Name Of Officer
The husband of Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot while storming the U.S. Capitol building during the Jan. 6 insurrection, has filed a complaint against the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department asking for the identity of the Capitol Police officer who shot her.
Babbitt was fatally shot by a police officer as she tried to enter the Speaker's Lobby at the House of Representatives by climbing through a window that had been broken by her fellow Trump insurrectionists.
Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from Southern California, was the only fatality suffered by the insurrectionists at the hands of a police officer as they violently attacked Capitol Police and MPD officers in order to gain entry into the Capitol.
Husband Of Rioter Killed in Capitol Attack Wants Name Of Officer
The husband of Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot while storming the U.S. Capitol building during the Jan. 6 insurrection, has filed a complaint against the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department asking for the identity of the Capitol Police officer who shot her.
Babbitt was fatally shot by a police officer as she tried to enter the Speaker's Lobby at the House of Representatives by climbing through a window that had been broken by her fellow Trump insurrectionists.
Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from Southern California, was the only fatality suffered by the insurrectionists at the hands of a police officer as they violently attacked Capitol Police and MPD officers in order to gain entry into the Capitol.
Owners Threaten To Put Original Stonewall Inn On Market: Report
A nonprofit working to turn part of the original Stonewall Inn into a visitor center and monument has been given a week to sign a deal before the landlord puts the historic building on the market, according to the Daily Beast.
For more than two years, the nonprofit Pride Live has worked with the National Park Service and the National Parks Conservation Association in the hopes of purchasing part of the original Stonewall Inn that has sat vacant for years.
Its goal is to turn the property into a community space and visitor center for the present-day Stonewall Inn.
CNN
California appeals judge's ruling that overturned state's ban on assault-style weapons
US District Judge
Roger Benitez on Friday blocked California from enforcing its ban, saying it violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms and deprives Californians from owning assault-style weapons commonly allowed in other states. He granted a 30-day stay on the injunction.
In a press conference Thursday announcing that an
appeal has been filed, Bonta, a Democrat, called the judge's opinion "disturbing and troubling and of great concern."
Popular Mechanics
The First Two B-21 Bombers Are Nearly Complete—and the Air Force Already Wants More of 'Em
The first two B-21 Raider bombers—which will eventually be able to carry both nuclear and conventional weapons—are nearly mechanically complete, but still won't fly until 2022.
The U.S. Air Force's (USAF) bomber program, designed to field a replacement for the B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit by the late 2020s, is on track. That's a rarity in the world of military hardware procurement. Still, Congress is calling on the service to accelerate the program; USAF isn't budging.
"Once we get through design and get the first ones delivered, we can adjust production rates and maybe affect them that way, but we have to get through the engineering with solid discipline," Air Force acting acquisition executive Darlene Costello said during a House Armed Services panel on June 8.
Axios
Lake Mead falls to lowest level since 1930s amid worsening drought
Amid an intensifying drought, Lake Mead in Nevada, the nation's largest reservoir by volume, reached its lowest level since the 1930s late Wednesday.
Why it matters: The record low is due to a combination of years of punishing drought that's worsening across the Southwest, as well as challenges in managing water resources for a burgeoning population.
Bloomberg
Attending Her Last G-7, Merkel Has Had Enough of U.S. Leadership
As Angela Merkel prepares for her final Group of Seven meeting and Joe Biden for his first as president, their differences amount to more than simply summit experience.
Merkel is part of a heavyweight European contingent to the G-7 on England’s southwest coast that is emerging from the pandemic unusually united and determined to carve out a bigger global role on a par with its U.S. ally.
For the chancellor, Emmanuel Macron of France and Italy’s Mario Draghi, as well as European Union leaders that get a seat at the table, the relief is genuine at the prospect of dealing with Biden rather than Donald Trump. Yet their high hopes for the summit don’t diminish a growing sense that collectively they need to get out from under America’s shadow and influence policy in Washington rather than meekly accept the U.S. line.
Good News Network
U.S Establishes New Protections for Endangered Humpback Whales in Pacific Ocean
The U.S. administration has announced it will be officially protecting 116,098 square nautical miles of the Pacific Ocean as critical habitat for three populations of endangered humpback whales.
The final rule could begin to help protect migrating whales from ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, and oil spills.
The action was prompted by a 2018 legal victory by the Center for Biological Diversity, Wishtoyo Foundation, and Turtle Island Restoration Network—which sued over the federal failure to designate critical habitat as required by the Endangered Species Act.
Quick-Thinking Kayakers Save Pair of Rare Eagles From Drowning in Danube River
While paddling the iconic Danube River, what this Hungarian couple wasn’t expecting to find was two rare white-tailed eagles, stuck together and at risk of drowning.
Likely the eagles were clasped in this way after fighting. Klaudia Kis and Richard Varga knew they had to take action.
They helped the pair out humanely, using a rope, before continuing their journey from the Black Sea near Romania to Germany’s Black Forest.