PoliticsWashington ExaminerHot mic: Biden suggests Maxine Waters run for Senate and encourages Nancy Pelosi to 'keep it up'
President Joe Biden encouraged California Rep. Maxine Waters to run for Senate during a bill signing event at the White House, which produced a series of hot microphone moments for the president. Biden signed three bills during the Wednesday ceremony also attended by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, another favorite target of the Right. After brief remarks describing the soon-to-be laws, Biden welcomed Pelosi to the stage after the pair publicly clashed over how to pass the $1.2 trillion bipartisan "hard" infrastructure deal and a possible $6 trillion "soft" infrastructure reconciliation framework.
U.S.The StateDeadly shootout after motorcycle club members go to punish imposter, Indiana cops say
Angry that a non-member bore the tattoos and wore the patches of their two motorcycle clubs, six bikers armed themselves and headed to the perceived imposter's Indiana home to punish him. One of the group, 35-year-old Dustin Lindner, of Georgetown, Kentucky was hit during the shootout, investigators said. Indiana State Police soon took on the investigation.
WorldReutersU.S. eyes more stable, predictable ties with Russia, Blinken tells paper
The United States hopes for more stable and predictable relations with Russia but if the latter continues to "be aggressive", then Washington will respond, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday. "But if Russia is going to continue to take reckless or aggressive actions, we'll respond — not for purposes of conflict, not to escalate, but because we will defend our interests and values," he told Italian daily La Repubblica. Blinken - who was in Rome for a meeting on international efforts to combat Islamist militia - referred to the SolarWind cyberattacks and the attempt to poison jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
U.S.Washington ExaminerMatt Gaetz calls for inspector general investigation into Tucker Carlson NSA allegations
Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz called for an independent inspector general investigation into allegations that the National Security Agency monitored Fox News host Tucker Carlson in any way. A House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday on legislative possibilities to deter “prosecutorial abuse of power” when prosecuting leaks provided a timely and topical forum for lawmakers to address Carlson's allegations. “Join me in calling for an inspector general investigation into any monitoring that the NSA or any other element of the intelligence community has engaged in, relative to Tucker Carlson,” Gaetz said to Democratic Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler of New York.
PoliticsWashington ExaminerTrump is right. Biden did not inherit the border crisis
During his visit to the southern border, former President Donald Trump rightly argued that the Biden administration did not inherit the border crisis. “Blame Trump” seems to be the mantra of the Biden White House. In April, President Joe Biden complained that his administration had “one god-awful mess at the border.”
- WorldAssociated Press
9 mutilated bodies found on Mexican road near U.S. border
The area has been fought over by rival cartels for more than a decade, usually by the Gulf cartel and the old Zetas cartel, and later a remnant of that group, the Northeast Cartel. While some of the corpses had military-style clothing, there was no immediate confirmation on which gang they may have belonged to. Most had bullet wounds, but some also appear to have been hacked into or shot so many times their organs spilled onto the roadway, authorities said..
- WorldReuters
Factbox-Jordan security trial sheds light on palace intrigue
Bassem Awadallah, once a confidant of Jordan's King Abdallah, is on trial charged with backing the aspirations of former heir to the throne Prince Hamza to replace the monarch. Awadallah and Hamza's friend and relative Sherif Hassan Zaid, a minor royal who is also on trial, were allegedly helping Hamza to exploit public anger at economic mismanagement and corruption to rally support for him as an "alternative" to the king, officials and public prosecutors say. Here is what we know about a case that exposed faultlines in Jordan's royal family.
WorldWashington ExaminerJapanese official warns US of potential surprise attack on Hawaii — from Russia and China
Russia and China are coordinating military exercises to threaten not only Taiwan but also Hawaii, according to a senior Japanese defense official who warned the United States to beware of a Pearl Harbor-style surprise attack. “We have to show the deterrence towards China, and not just China but also the Russians, because, as I told you, that they are doing their exercises together,” Japanese deputy Yasuhide Nakayama told the Hudson Institute this week. Taiwan's vulnerability to an invasion from mainland China has become a preoccupation of Indo-Pacific strategists in recent months, as Chinese Communist forces escalate their military drills around the island.
U.S.Associated PressWitness: Dad didn't seem interested in missing son search
A man charged in the death of his 13-year-old son in Colorado nearly a decade ago seemed uninterested in the search for the boy after he disappeared, a witness testified Monday. Mark Redwine, 59, is on trial on charges of second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in the death of Dylan Redwine, who was reported missing on Nov. 19, 2012 while on a court-ordered Thanksgiving visit to his home outside the small city of Durango. The boy's body was found in 2013 a few miles from his father's home.
WorldReutersInaugurating embassy in UAE, Israel tells region: 'We're here to stay'
DUBAI (Reuters) -Israel's new foreign minister inaugurated its embassy in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday and offered an olive branch to other former adversaries, saying: "We're here to stay." Yair Lapid's two-day visit, in which he will open an Israeli consulate in Dubai on Wednesday, is the first to the Gulf state by an Israeli cabinet minister since the countries established ties last year. The trip is also an opportunity for the two-week-old Israeli government of Naftali Bennett, a nationalist who heads an improbable cross-partisan coalition, to make diplomatic inroads despite long-stymied talks with the Palestinians.
U.S.Miami HeraldTropical Storm Elsa could form soon. Watches issued for eastern Caribbean islands
The Lesser Antilles are under tropical storm watches as a disturbance with a high probability of strengthening into the fifth named storm of the season, Elsa, heads their way. It's far too soon to tell if the disturbance poses a threat to Florida, but authorities are already working to split resources away from the search-and-rescue effort at the Surfside condo collapse to prepare for a future storm. The National Hurricane Center began issuing advisories for potential tropical cyclone five Wednesday evening.
- NewsYahoo News Video
Putin says U.S. aircraft involved in Black Sea incident
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft was operating in sync with a British destroyer during an incident last week in the Black Sea that he described as a “provocation to test Moscow's response.
BusinessLA TimesWhat could happen to Donald Trump's company if it's indicted?
Under New York state law, a corporation convicted of the financial charges being mulled in the Trump Organization case would face at most a $10,000 per count penalty and an order to pay restitution. New York state prosecutors do not have the power, unlike those in some other states, to ask a judge to dissolve a company. Such an outcome may not seem particularly dire, but legal and business experts said the Trump Organization is likely to face serious "collateral consequences" that could ruin the company.
U.S.Charlotte ObserverUntreated sewage release prompts swimming ban for Lake Norman cove near upscale homes
Swimmers are banned from plunging into a Lake Norman cove after untreated sewage spilled from a broken pipe, Mecklenburg County health officials said Wednesday. A private contractor damaged the pipe at a home on Paradise Cove Court in Cornelius, causing 405 gallons of the sewage to discharge into the lake, according to Rusty Rozzelle, manager of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services' Water Quality Program. Paradise Cove Court is in the Peninsula community of upscale homes off Jetton Road.
WorldAssociated Press$40 billion pledged at Paris conference for gender equality
World leaders, philanthropists and organizations have pledged at least $40 billion at an international conference in Paris to boost gender equality, as women and girls worldwide have been deeply affected by the consequences of the pandemic. U.N. Women's Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka welcomed the pledges at the three-day Generation Equality Forum that started Wednesday. French President Emmanuel Macron said that over the past year and half, an extra 47 million women fell into poverty amid the pandemic, and millions of others were deprived of treatment, contraception and the possibility of choosing for themselves.
LifestyleArchitectural Digest15 Best Tiny House Rentals on Airbnb and Beyond (2021)
Make major memories with a tiny house vacation Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
PoliticsBBCDonald Rumsfeld: Ex-US defence secretary dies aged 88
Former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, one of the main architects of the Iraq war, has died at the age of 88. Serving under President George W Bush, he was a leading proponent of the administration's "war on terror". US forces launched a campaign in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks and invaded Iraq in 2003.
WorldReutersEU agrees three-month ceasefire with UK in "sausage war"
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire with the United Kingdom in a post-Brexit dispute dubbed the "sausage war" by extending a grace period for shipments of certain meat products from Britain to Northern Ireland. The bloc will also make it easier for medicines and guide dogs to cross the Irish Sea and allow Northern Irish drivers to travel to Ireland with existing insurance documents, moves designed to ease tensions following Britain's exit from the EU.
- PoliticsThe Week
The reported Trump Org charges are small potatoes
Cy Vance Jr. is not going to save America from Donald Trump. The Manhattan prosecutor is reportedly preparing to bring charges as soon as Thursday against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, for allegedly evading taxes on fringe benefits paid to some of the company's employees. Compared to Trump's crimes against democracy, it all seems like small potatoes.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramKennedale man who stabbed wife to death, killed father-in-law with bat to be executed
After a 15-month stay because of the coronavirus pandemic, the execution of a former Kennedale man who was convicted of capital murder is scheduled for Wednesday. John Hummel, 45, stabbed to death wife and beat to death his father-in-law with a baseball bat before he burned down the family home in 2009. He also was accused in the death of his 5-year-old daughter, but was convicted in the killings of his wife and father-in-law.
- BusinessAssociated Press
Swiss propose US-made F-35 fighters for air force renewal
The Swiss executive branch has announced a proposal to purchase three dozen advanced fighter jets from U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin, which beat three rivals to land a contract worth more than 15.5 billion Swiss francs ($16.75 billion) over three decades. The Federal Council, the Swiss seven-member executive, decided Wednesday it will advise parliament to buy 36 F-35A fighters from Lockheed Martin, as well as five Patriot ground-based air-defense system units from U.S. contractor Raytheon, for another 3.6 billion francs, over 30 years. The purchases are part of a multi-year fleet refurbishment by the Swiss air force called “Air2030” because the division's current equipment will reach the end of its service life by 2030, the defense department said in a statement.
BusinessReutersCureVac COVID-19 vaccine records only 48% efficacy in final trial readout
(Reuters) -CureVac said its COVID-19 vaccine was 48% effective in the final analysis of its pivotal mass trial, only marginally better than the 47% reported after an initial read-out two weeks ago. The German biotech firm said that efficacy, measured by preventing symptomatic disease, was slightly better at 53% when excluding trial participants older than 60 years, an age group that is by far the most severely affected. CureVac said on June 16 its COVID-19 vaccine, known as CVnCoV, proved only 47% effective in an initial trial read-out and that new variants had proved a headwind, denting investor confidence in its ability to take on rival shots.
WorldBBCEthiopia Tigray conflict: Rebels build on capture of capital
Rebel fighters in the Tigray region of Ethiopia are continuing to gain ground after recapturing the regional capital Mekelle from government forces. Eritrean troops backing the Ethiopian army had earlier abandoned the city. The government has declared a ceasefire in the eight-month conflict, but the rebels have vowed to drive their "enemies" from Tigray.
U.S.Architectural DigestMore of This Vibrant Lake Champlain Family Escape
Taking inspiration from grand getaways of yore, AD100 architect Gil Schafer transforms a ramshackle ranch house on the shores of Vermont Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.Idaho StatesmanMom arrested in killings of 3 children, California cops say. ‘Out of the blue tragedy’
A California mother has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the deaths of her three young children, according to authorities. Sandra Chico, 28, is accused of killing her 1-month-old Milan Rodriguez, 3-year-old Mason Rodriguez and 4-year-old Mia Rodriguez, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, CBS Los Angeles reported. “There was no forewarning of any kind,” Sheriff Alex Villanueva said, according to the station.
“Obamacare is getting stronger every time the Republicans try to kill it.”
“It is far from certain the Supreme Court will safeguard the Affordable Care Act the next time the law reaches the court’s chambers.”
“Although ACA cost Obama an enormous amount, it’s become clear that he will have the last laugh.”
“Even the feistiest Republicans have given up talking seriously about repeal.”
“Current and future cases will largely concern the administration and enforcement of the ACA, not its underlying architecture.”