News

Senate Unanimously Passes Bill For Juneteenth Holiday

The Washington Post reports: The Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed a measure that would establish a federal holiday for Juneteenth, the day that marks the end of slavery in the United States. The bill now heads to the Democratic-led House, where it is likely to be approved, although the timing remains uncertain. Unanimous Senate passage of the bill was an …

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Senate Panel To Hold Hearing ON DC Statehood Bill

The Hill reports: A Senate committee next week will hold a hearing for legislation to make Washington, D.C., the country’s 51st state, the District’s House Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) announced on Tuesday. “The Senate hearing shows that momentum continues to build for our D.C. statehood bill,” the longtime D.C. House delegate said in a statement, noting that this is …

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NY Drops Restrictions As State Hits Vax Benchmark

The New York Daily News reports: New York reached a major pandemic milestone Tuesday as Gov. Cuomo announced that 70% of adults in the state have received at least one dose of COVID vaccine. To honor the occasion, landmarks will be lit up in blue and gold and fireworks displays will be held across the state as the majority of …

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Confirmed US Coronavirus Deaths Surpass 600,000

The Wall Street Journal reports: The number of confirmed U.S. deaths from Covid-19 surpassed 600,000 on Tuesday. The milestone follows a significant slowdown in all Covid-19 metrics after a winter surge that reached every corner of the country and strained healthcare systems. Since the rollout of highly effective vaccines, deaths have plummeted, recently reaching their lowest point since March 2020. …

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Mall Operator With 100+ Locations Files For Bankruptcy

Bloomberg News reports: Washington Prime Group Inc., a real estate investment trust that operates enclosed malls and strip centers across the U.S., filed for bankruptcy after the Covid-19 pandemic drove away shoppers. The Chapter 11 filing in Houston lets Washington Prime stay in business while it restructures its debts in a deal that it reached with certain creditors, according to …

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Western US Braces For “Dangerous” Heat Wave [VIDEO]

CBS News reports: A punishing mid-June heat wave is set to scorch much of the Southwest and West this week, with Las Vegas potentially eclipsing its highest temperature on record, which stands at 117°F. The heat will build in a region that is experiencing a record drought, leading to dangerous fire weather conditions, high power demands, and causing water supplies …

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COVID Model Suggests 20M Deaths Globally By 2023

The Daily Beast reports: The computational biologists at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in Seattle crunched COVID-19 stats from all over the world, charted the trends and concluded that as many as 9.7 million people could die by late September. If the trend line continues, COVID-19 could kill 20 million by 2023, according to IHME’s model. The …

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NATO Expands Mutual Defense Pact To Attacks In Space

The Associated Press reports: NATO leaders on Monday will expand the use of their all for one, one for all, collective defense clause to include attacks in space, the military organization’s top civilian official said. Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty states that attack on any one of the 30 allies will be considered an attack on them all. So …

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US Probes Reported Leak At Chinese Nuclear Plant

CNN reports: The US government has spent the past week assessing a report of a leak at a Chinese nuclear power plant, after a French company that part owns and helps operate it warned of an “imminent radiological threat,” according to US officials and documents reviewed by CNN. The warning included an accusation that the Chinese safety authority was raising …

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Axios: Most Major Hospitals Charge Over 5X Costs

Axios reports: Some of the hospitals with the highest revenue in the country also have some of the highest prices, charging an average of 10 times more than the actual cost of the care they deliver, according to new research by Johns Hopkins University provided exclusively to Axios. Hospitals each determine their own charges, or list prices. While few patients …

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REPORT: Capitol Police Contractor Uses Nazi Symbols

Roll Call reports: Capitol Police spent $90,075 of taxpayer dollars in 2018 and 2019 to train its specialized Containment Emergency Response Team with Northern Red Inc., a company that publicly displays symbols often associated with the white supremacist movement. Northern Red’s website and Facebook page prominently display the Devil’s Guard Patch, which stems from a 1971 novel titled “Devil’s Guard,” …

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BREAKING: Israeli Knesset Votes In New Government

The Washington Post reports: For the first time in 12 years, Israeli lawmakers voted Sunday to install a government led by someone other than Benjamin Netanyahu, breaking a two-year electoral deadlock, marking a likely shift toward the political center and ending — for now — the reign of the country’s longest-serving prime minister, and one of its most consequential. A …

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Netanyahu Vows To “Topple” Incoming Government

Haaretz reports: In the conclusion of his speech, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked the new coalition, focusing his criticism on Naftali Bennett’s Yamina party. Bennett is “fake right,” Netanyahu said, while praising Yamina member Amichai Shikli, who had promised to vote against the new coalition. “He isn’t the defector,” Netanyahu said. “You, Yamina members, are the defectors.” Netanyahu accused the …

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Today: Knesset Makes Final Vote On Ousting Netanyahu

The New York Times reports: The political fate of Israel’s longest serving leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, is set to be decided on Sunday afternoon, when Parliament will hold a vote of confidence in a new government that would topple Mr. Netanyahu from power for the first time in 12 years. Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents hope that the vote, if it passes, will …

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Mystery Bidder Pays $28M For Seat On Bezos Rocket

The BBC reports: A mystery bidder has paid $28m (£20m) for a seat on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s first crewed spaceflight by the billionaire’s Blue Origin company. This winning bid was made at Saturday’s auction, with Blue Origin tweeting that the winner’s identity would be revealed in the coming weeks. The bidding process attracted interest from more than 140 countries. …

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Delta Flight Diverted After Crew Calls For “Strong Men” To Help Restrain Passenger Wearing Helmet [VIDEO]

The Independent reports: Witnesses have described the terrifying moment crew asked for ‘strong men’ to help subdue a passenger who tried to open a door on a Delta flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta. An eyewitness said on Twitter that passenger grabbed the public address system in the front galley and made an announcement telling others to take their seats …

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Argentine President: Brazilians “Emerged From The Jungle” But We Arrived On Boats From Europe [VIDEO]

The New York Times reports: During a recent visit to Argentina by the prime minister of Spain, President Alberto Fernández tried to connect with his guest by paying homage to Argentina’s European immigrant heritage. Instead, with a statement that was widely seen as xenophobic and offensive, Mr. Fernández managed to cause offense at home and across Latin America — including …

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CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin Discusses Zoom-Wanking Incident

CNN reports: Jeffrey Toobin returned to CNN as the network’s chief legal analyst on Thursday, eight months after he exposed himself during a Zoom call with colleagues at The New Yorker. “I feel like we should address what’s happened in the months since we’ve seen you,” Alison Camerota said. She summarized the situation and said, “To quote Jay Leno, ‘What …

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2021 Global COVID Deaths Already More Than 2020

The Wall Street Journal reports: More people have died from Covid-19 already this year than in all of 2020, according to official counts, highlighting how the global pandemic is far from over even as vaccines beat back the virus in wealthy nations. It took less than six months for the globe to record more than 1.88 million Covid-19 deaths this …

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Netanyahu’s Party Rejects Comparisons To Trump But Also Tweets “If This Isn’t Fraud We Don’t Know What Is”

Axios reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party rejected on Thursday the comparisons being made in the U.S. between his efforts to block a transition of power and those of former President Trump after the November 2020 presidential election. On the verge of being replaced after 12 years in power, Netanyahu has been working to delegitimize the incoming government …

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