News

The Verge reports: Following a recommendation from its Oversight Board, Facebook says it will update its community standards to be clearer about how it handles satirical content, the company said in a blog post. “We’ll add information to the Community Standards that makes it clear where we consider satire as part of our assessment of context-specific decisions,” according to the …

The Daily Dot reports: Power companies in Texas are remotely raising temperatures inside of some customers’ homes amid the state’s ongoing energy shortage. Residents with Google’s Nest thermostats received messages noting that their temperatures had been adjusted during an “Energy Rush Hour.” The issue comes shortly after the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state’s power grid manager, called …

The New York Times reports: The Portuguese authorities ordered a weekend lockdown of the capital region of Lisbon starting on Friday in an attempt to blunt a recent surge of new infections, offering a powerful reminder that even as Europe seeks to reopen more fully, the virus still poses challenges. The decision came after Portugal registered this week its highest …

The New York Daily News reports: A double lung transplant later, a 43-year-old Texas man who didn’t think he needed a COVID vaccination is now hoping others like him will get inoculated so they, too, don’t learn the hard way that the pandemic that has killed 600,000 Americans is serious. “If I knew what I know now, I would have …

The Hartford Courant reports: Following more than seven hours of debate, the Connecticut House of Representatives avoided a threatened gubernatorial veto and approved a revised bill that would legalize marijuana in the state. The measure cleared the House by a largely party-line vote of 76 to 62. Twelve Democrats joined all but one Republican–Rep. Rick Hayes of Putnam–in voting no. …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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. …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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,” …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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. …