Biden tells graduates it's 'up to you' to shape the future

President Joe Biden says members of the graduating class of 2021 are leaving school at an “inflection point” that gives them influence to shape the nation and the world around them like few others. Biden's brief video message to graduates was released Friday by the White House as the coronavirus pandemic has put a dent in commencement ceremonies. Comparing today's students to those who graduated during the era of the civil rights and anti-war protest movements, Biden encouraged them to seize the moment to tackle climate change and systemic racism.

Three U.S. senators to visit Taiwan, trip likely to irritate China

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Three U.S. senators will visit Taiwan on Sunday and will meet President Tsai Ing-wen to discuss security and other issues, Taiwan's government and the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei said on Saturday, a trip that will likely irritate China. The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with the island that is claimed by China, but is its most important international backer and supplier of arms. Tammy Duckworth and Dan Sullivan of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Christopher Coons of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will visit the island on Sunday as part of a larger trip to to the Indo-Pacific region, the American Institute in Taiwan said.

Elections expert 'genuinely' doesn't understand Democrats' voting rights legislation strategy

"I don't know why the Democrats are doing what they're doing" in their effort to pass voting rights legislation, Jessica Huseman, an elections expert and the editorial director at Votebeat, told Politico. Huseman's point is that the party should be focusing on the John Lewis Voting Rights Act (or H.R. 4), which was introduced in 2019 and would restore and strengthen aspects of the original 1965 Voting Rights Act, as opposed to the more sweeping For the People Act (or H.R. 1). While the makeup of the Senate means Democrats will struggle to get either bill through the upper chamber, H.R. 1 has almost no chance, especially considering Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) is the only Democratic senator who isn't co-sponsoring the bill, Politico notes.

Illegal Serb church on Bosniak woman's land is demolished

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Bosnian authorities on Saturday demolished a Serbian Orthodox church that was illegally built on land owned by a Bosniak woman, a move that comes after a 20-year legal battle that saw the case reach the European Court of Human Rights. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in October 2019 that authorities must remove the church and pay damages to the Orlovic family totaling 31,000 euros ($36,500).

Letter from Africa: How Zimbabwe is still haunted by Robert Mugabe

In our series of letters from Africa, Zimbabwean journalist-turned-barrister Brian Hungwe writes that long-serving ruler Robert Mugabe, who died in 2019, seems to be causing trouble from beyond the grave. Robert Mugabe's relatives say he died a bitter man nearly two years after he was forced to hand over power to current President Emmerson Mnangagwa - and his bitterness, even in death, is creating feuds. In an African traditional context, the dead can speak, often through a vengeful spirit that is believed to respond violently against erstwhile tormentors.

Chinese city of Guangzhou reports seven new COVID-19 cases

The southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou on Sunday reported seven new local confirmed COVID-19 patients for June 5, bringing the city's total since May 21 to 80 amid a resurgent outbreak. Overall, China reported 30 new mainland coronavirus cases for June 5, up from 24 a day earlier, the country's health authority said in a statement on Sunday. Of the new cases, 23 were imported.

China's COVID-19 vaccines don't appear to be effective at preventing outbreaks in the real world

The World Health Organization recently granted emergency use approval to China's Sinopharm and Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines, but the countries that have put the Chinese-made vaccines in the arms of their residents are reporting mixed results, at best. "In the Seychelles, Chile, and Uruguay, all of whom have used Sinopharm or ... Sinovac in their mass vaccination efforts, cases have surged even as doses were given out," The Washington Post reports.

Biden says jobs report bolsters case for government spending

President Joe Biden portrayed the May jobs report as a jumping off point for more spending on infrastructure and education to keep growth going — essentially an argument for his agenda. “We're on the right track,” Biden said. The May jobs report showed the complexity of restarting the economy after a pandemic shutdown and the mixed signals that can result when an unprecedented surge of government spending flows through the economy.

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  Biden touts new jobs report

  Associated Press Videos
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  Biden calls jobs report ‘great news’

  ABC News Videos

What cops say happened during a Maserati chase on I-95 in Miami-Dade and Broward

A Saturday morning police chase that spanned southern Broward and North Miami-Dade counties ended with one crash, three people arrested and four people — those three and a Miami-Dade police officer — being taken to a hospital, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. All four had injuries that FHP described as “non-life threatening.” Troopers arrested Devona Keon, 32, and James Dasher, 30, on charges of grand theft, driving without a license and fleeing and eluding.

Australia's COVID-19 hotspot logs four new local cases

MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Australia's second most populous state Victoria on Sunday reported two new locally acquired COVID-19 cases, with the low number raising hopes that a hard lockdown in the state's capital Melbourne will be eased on June 10. Two other new cases were reported on Sunday by an aged care home, but the state had yet to confirm them. The four new local infections bring Victoria's total cases to 74, including two recovered cases, in the outbreak that began in late May after a man who tested negative in hotel quarantine in Adelaide returned to Melbourne and tested positive.

Mother eulogizes Southern California boy killed in road rage

The mother of a Southern California boy killed in a road rage shooting remembered him Saturday as 6-year-old with a vocabulary beyond his years who exuded warmth and tenderness. The boy was fatally shot in the abdomen on May 21 while seated in the back seat of a car driven by Cloonan, on State Route 55 in the city of Orange. A reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect has grown to at least $500,000, Southern California News Group reported.

Vaccines for children could start in August under plans being discussed by ministers

Ministers are awaiting advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which insiders expect will recommend the jab for younger teenagers, before they make a final decision. However, writing in The Telegraph, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, warns that “a huge proportion of the latest cases are in children”, as he urges secondary school pupils to take a coronavirus test on Sunday before returning to school on Monday. In other developments: There was growing pessimism in Whitehall over whether social distancing restrictions will be lifted on June 21, with ministers awaiting further data on hospitalisations caused by the Indian (or Delta) variant of Covid.

It’s Time to Reconsider the Ashtray

Democratizing the smoking accessory for all Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Black fungus: Is diabetes behind India's high number of cases?

About 12,000 cases of a condition known as "black fungus" have been reported in India, mostly in patients recovering from Covid-19. Which countries have got black fungus? Prior to the Covid pandemic, at least 38 countries around the world had reported cases of mucormycosis, more commonly known as black fungus.

Microsoft says "tank man" image blocking due to human error

Microsoft Corp. blamed “accidental human error” for its Bing search engine briefly not showing image results for the search term “tank man” on the anniversary of the bloody military crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989. Users in different parts of the world, including the U.S., said Friday that no image results were returned when they searched for the term “tank man.

Wisconsin priest digs in to refuse bishop's demand to resign

But when his bishop demanded his resignation – after a series of divisive remarks about politics and the pandemic – Altman refused to oblige and has since raised more than $640,000 from his conservative supporters to defend himself. While not unprecedented, a Catholic priest's refusal to abide by a bishop's call to resign is certainly rare. Altman's case, which has garnered national attention and made him a celebrity of sorts among conservative Catholics, has further fueled the divide between them and those urging a more progressive, inclusive church.

Trump on idea to run for House seat in 2022 in a bid to become Speaker and launch an impeachment inquiry against Biden: 'It's very interesting'

A radio host suggested to Trump that he should run for a House seat in 2022 and become Speaker. Trump responded that it was a "very interesting" idea and might be better than running for Senate. Trump could, theoretically, become House Speaker - but experts say it is very unlikely.

California police arrested two parents who went to a casino hours after their disabled kid starved to death

Two parents were arrested Friday in California after allegedly neglecting their three adopted kids. One of the kids - 15-year-old Karreon Franks - was disabled and died from starvation, the Oregonian reported. Two parents from Vancouver, Washington, were arrested Friday in California on suspicion of second-degree murder and homicide by abuse in the death of their adopted disabled son Karreon Franks.

'I will protect my brother's name': Family of Minneapolis man killed by deputies demand accountability

Family of the man fatally shot by two sheriff's deputies in Minneapolis on Thursday tearfully pleaded for transparency and defended his character and history. While authorities did not immediately release the man's name, family and friends identified him as Winston Smith Jr., a 32-year-old father of three. At a Friday news conference, Smith's sister, Tieshia Floyd, said her brother's reputation had been smeared and any past mistakes he made did not justify his death.

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  Authorities: Man killed by Minnesota deputies had fired gun

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  Protest erupts again over man killed by Minnesota deputies

  Associated Press

The GOP is failing to make a villain out of Biden and has run out of ideas - so now they're getting desperate and turning on their own.

Biden's popularity has left Republicans in a state of chaos. Joe Biden is a popular president and Republicans are losing their minds. Biden, a 78-year-old moderate Democrat, has a job approval rating hovering around 60% of Americans.

Muslim woman says she was denied an exit row seat aboard a Southwest Airlines flight because of her hijab

A Muslim woman filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation against Southwest Airlines. Fatima Altakrouri said the airline denied her an exit row seat because of her hijab. Altakrouri told USA Today she heard flight attendants saying, "if we sat her there, she'd bring down the plane in an emergency."

Capitol riot attendee argued she was allowed inside the building on January 6 because she looked up the hours online and it said it was open

A California woman was arrested and charged in connection to the Capitol riot on Friday in Alabama. Stephanie Baez boasted about her attendance on her Instagram during and after the insurrection, prosecutors allege. An alleged Capitol riot attendee, who prosecutors say boasted about her presence at the pro-Trump insurrection on social media, told authorities that she had permission to be in the Capitol on January 6 because she had previously looked up the building's operating hours to confirm it was open so she could tour the site.

Passengers on flight to Nashville wrestle with man who tried to get into cockpit screaming 'Stop this plane'

A video captured the moment a man on a flight to Nashville was taken down by attendants and passengers after trying to break into the cockpit shouting: “Stop the plane”. The Delta Airlines flight from Los Angeles made an emergency landing in New Mexico on Friday following the incident involving the unnamed man, as reported by CNN. Several passengers took videos showing the man on the floor of the plane being held down by a number of people as his hands were bound.

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  Passenger attempts to break into plane cockpit: Authorities

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  Videos shows a man who allegedly tried to hijack a Delta flight being restrained and zip-tied by passengers and flight attendants

  Business Insider