Storm Agatha, BTS at the White House, Scripps National Spelling Bee: 5 things to know Tuesday

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Agatha expected to dissipate after making landfall in Mexico as a hurricane

Agatha is expected to dissipate over southeastern Mexico by late Tuesday after touching down in the country's southern coast as the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in May in the eastern Pacific. Agatha touched down as a Category 2 hurricane Monday about 5 miles west of Puerto Angel in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph. Late Monday, it was downgraded to a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. The National Hurricane Center said Agatha was expected to dissipate overnight, but warned that the system's heavy rains still posed a threat of dangerous flash flood. "While the chance of Agatha maintaining a defined, strong circulation after moving inland over the mountainous terrain in southern Mexico is slim, a more likely solution is for moisture and residual energy from Agatha to give birth to a new storm system on the Atlantic side," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Courtney Travis said.

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Russian gas giant to cut off Dutch trader; EU leaders agree to Russian gas embargo

Russian state gas giant Gazprom said it will cut off supplies to the Dutch trader GasTerra starting Tuesday for failing to pay for deliveries in rubles, as Russian President Vladimir Putin now requires. GasTerra, based in the northern Dutch city of Groningen, said it anticipated the move and bought gas from other providers. On Monday, European Union leaders reached a deal on a sixth sanction package that would include a partial oil embargo against Russia. The EU members agreed to an embargo that covers Russian oil transported by sea, allowing a temporary exemption for imports delivered by pipeline. EU Council President Charles Michel said on Twitter the deal covers more than two-thirds of oil imports from Russia. All 27 EU countries must agree for the package to win approval.

Verdict could come in Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial

A verdict could come Tuesday in the high-profile libel trial between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Depp is suing Heard, his ex-wife, over a 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as "a public figure representing domestic abuse." Depp was not named in the op-ed, but his lawyers say he was nevertheless defamed by it. Heard has testified about more than a dozen separate instances of physical abuse she says she suffered at Depp's hands. Depp has denied he ever struck Heard and says she was the abuser in the relationship.

BTS to meet Biden to discuss inclusion, address anti-Asian hate crimes

South Korean superstar K-pop group BTS will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday "to discuss Asian inclusion and representation and to address anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination," the White House announced. Their visit to the White House follows Biden's recent trip to South Korea, a U.S. ally. Biden and BTS also will discuss diversity and the group's platform as youth ambassadors. Attacks on Asian American communities have been on the rise amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, Biden signed into law in May 2021 the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. The band received its first Grammy nomination last year after releasing the song "Dynamite" as a gift to fans isolated by the coronavirus pandemic. BTS' visit comes at the end of AAPI Heritage Month and joins a slew of young stars the president tapped to share messages from the White House.

Scripps National Spelling Bee returns, but pandemic has a lingering impact

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is back, fully in person at its usual venue outside Washington for the first time since 2019. But the pandemic continues to affect kids who've spent years preparing to compete for spelling's top prize. Schools and sponsors have dropped out of the bee pipeline, regions have been consolidated and the bee has fewer than half the spellers it had three years ago. Scripps had 245 regional sponsors in 2020 for the bee that was ultimately canceled because of the pandemic. That number is down to 198 this year, meaning some kids faced a tougher path to the bee in super-sized regions. Another huge change: Scripps broke with longtime partner ESPN and will broadcast the competition on its own networks, ION and Bounce.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Agatha, BTS, Scripps National Spelling Bee: 5 things to know Tuesday