“The U.S. economic recovery has driven the biggest surge in consumer prices since August 2008, with the consumer-price index rising 5% in May compared with last year. Big-ticket items such as cars helped feed the increase. Prices for used cars and trucks jumped 7.3%, contributing to one-third of the overall bump in the consumer-price index. Inflation is expected to wane toward the end of the year, however, since this year's price increases are being compared to last year’s, when pandemic-related lockdowns pulled down demand for many goods and services. Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group, said that the sharp price increases have been concentrated in sectors most affected by the pandemic, such as prices for airfares, hotel stays and used cars. When compared with two years ago, prices in May rose a more muted 2.5%.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Biden meet in England ahead of the G7 summit.
“Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed a new version of the Atlantic Charter, a pact first drafted by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.” Read more at New York Times
First lady Jill Biden's jacket as she visited with Carrie Johnson, wife of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, yesterday in Carbis Bay, England. Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP
“House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a member of the committee, were notified last month that the Trump Justice Department secretly obtained Apple records about them in 2017-18, in what Schiff called ‘a body blow to our democracy.’
Schiff and Swalwell spoke on CNN after the N.Y. Times revealed that as part of a leak investigation, the Justice Department subpoenaed, and received, Apple metadata (records but not actual content) for at least a dozen House Intelligence Committee members, aides and family members. One was a minor.
The records contained no proof of leaks. ‘As the years wore on, some [DOJ] officials argued in meetings that charges were becoming less realistic,’ The Times reported. ‘They lacked strong evidence, and a jury might not care about information reported years earlier.’
Schiff, who at the time was the committee's top Democrat under a GOP chair, told Chris Cuomo that the requests were ‘extraordinarily broad — people having nothing to do with ... the intelligence matters that are, at least, being reported on,’ and called it a ‘fishing expedition’:
‘What they were looking for, I still don't know. Apparently they didn't find anything.’
Swalwell told Don Lemon that the officials and relatives ‘were targeted punitively — not for any reason in law, but because Donald Trump identified Chairman Schiff and members of the committee as an enemy.’
Swalwell said the subpoenas were covered by gag orders: ‘It looks like they were renewed a number of times and, thankfully, ... it looks like [the Biden administration] did not renew it.’
‘The matter's closed,’ Swalwell said. ‘And of course it's closed, because we did nothing but our jobs, and we followed the rules we were supposed to follow in our investigation that showed that Donald Trump and his team sought to have assistance from Russia.’
Schiff said Trump used the Justice Department as ‘this bludgeon to go after the president's enemies, and a shield to protect those who lied for him.’
‘We brought about these new norms after Watergate to prevent exactly this kind of abuse. But they didn't survive his presidency.’” Read more at Axios
Attorney General Merrick Garland arrives at a Senate hearing Wednesday. Photo: Stefani Reynolds/Pool via Getty Images
“Attorney General Merrick Garland will give a policy address on voting rights at 2 p.m., promising ‘concrete steps ... to secure the fundamental right to vote for all Americans,’ the Justice Department says.
Why it matters: President Biden said last week that he's prioritizing fights for federal voting-rights protection, as Republicans in legislatures across the country pass their own election laws. Democrats' efforts were set back Sunday when Sen. Joe Manchin said he wouldn't support a centerpiece bill passed by the House.
A DOJ official tells me Garland ‘will discuss the central importance of voting rights to American democracy. He’ll announce steps the department is taking to secure and expand the right to vote for all Americans, including in states seeking to curb voter access.’
‘He will also speak to the upcoming redistricting cycle, the first since 1960 to proceed without preclearance protections of the Voting Rights Act.’” Read more at Axios
“Six men from California connected to a right-wing militia face new conspiracy charges from the Justice Department for their alleged role in planning the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. Since the insurrection, prosecutors have charged numerous members of far-right extremist groups in connection with the riot. This latest case is the first against multiple people said to be involved with the Three Percenters. The head of the FBI said he expects more serious charges related to the attack, though he added that he wasn't aware of any such investigation involving former President Trump. “ Read more at CNN
“A bipartisan group of 10 Senate Democrats and Republicans reached a new deal on infrastructure on Thursday, agreeing to a nearly $1 trillion, five-year package to improve the country’s roads, bridges, pipes and Internet connections.
The new blueprint, described by four people familiar with the plan, marks a fresh attempt to resurrect negotiations between congressional lawmakers and the White House after an earlier round of talks between President Biden and the GOP fell apart this week. But it remains unclear if the early accord will prove to be enough to satisfy either the White House or a sufficient number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill at a time when disagreements between the parties are rife.
The new deal is the product of five Democrats and five Republicans — Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Mark R. Warner (D-Va.).
'Time is running out:' Democrats are split over White House strategy related to infrastructure.
Their early agreement calls for about $974 billion in infrastructure spending over five years, which comes to about $1.2 trillion when extrapolated over eight years, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the details had not yet been released formally. The package includes roughly $579 billion in new spending.” Read more at Washington Post
“ A man fatally shot a woman and a toddler before taking his own life in a Publix supermarket in Royal Palm Beach on Thursday morning, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said. The shooting happened inside the store near the produce section just after 11:30 a.m. at a Publix located in a strip mall that also houses small shops and restaurants. The agency said late Thursday it would not identify either the woman or the toddler, who would have turned 2 years old this month. It said their family had invoked its rights under a 2018 amendment to the state constitution, modeled on California's Marsy's Law, that allows crime victims and their families to withhold their names from public reports.” Read more at USA Today
“Tensions among Democrats over Israel grew Thursday after a group of 12 Jewish Democratic lawmakers criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minn.) over a tweet she wrote that seemed to equate the actions of the United States and Israel with those of Hamas and the Taliban, calling it ‘offensive’ and demanding she ‘clarify’ her words.
Omar said her comments were misconstrued and that she was not suggesting a moral equivalency. She and other Democratic women of color in the House accused their colleagues of advancing Islamophobia and, in one case, “anti-blackness” in their public chastising of the lawmaker.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and her Democratic leadership team addressed Omar’s comments in a joint statement, saying that equating the United States and Israel and terrorist groups such as Hamas and the Taliban ‘foments prejudice.’ They said they welcomed Omar’s clarification.” Read more at Washington Post
“U.S. halts new shipments of J&J vaccine. The U.S. government has stopped making the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 shot available to states, as federal and state officials try to clear a backlog of unused doses before they expire.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The US West was already facing a severe drought, but dry conditions and temperatures well above average this week have made it worse. All of California, Oregon, Utah and Nevada are now in drought, with nearly 2 million people in the Bay Area under a water shortage emergency. Forecasters worry these dry conditions will lead to an especially intense wildfire season, something many states are already beginning to experience. In Oregon, the crisis has exploded into a water war, pitting farmers against Native American tribes, government agencies and conservationists. By this point, it should come as no surprise: The manmade climate crisis is to blame.” Read more at CNN
“Months after a pair of high-profile killings by officers in pursuit drew national attention and prompted protests, Chicago police are adopting a new foot-chase policy . Adam Toledo, 13, was fatally shot on March 29 after an officer chased him down an alley. Two days later, Anthony Alvarez, 22, was running with his back facing an officer who fired multiple times at him. Under the new policy, foot pursuits are ‘appropriate only when there is probable cause for an arrest or it is believed an individual has committed, is committing or is about to commit a crime.’ The policy prohibitsfoot pursuits stemming from minor traffic offenses or for criminal offenses less than a Class A misdemeanor, ‘unless the person poses an obvious threat to the community or any person.’” Read more at USA Today
“"I'm trying now to say how sorry I am": CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin made a return to the cable network, and acknowledged masturbating while on a Zoom call with colleagues from The New Yorker last year.” Read more at CNN
“The University of Oklahoma won the N.C.A.A. softball World Series, defeating Florida State two games to one.” Read more at New York Times
“It’s Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic today in the French Open semifinal, starting at 11:30 a.m. Eastern.” Read more at New York Times
“Lives Lived: After Jessica Morris learned she had glioblastoma, a deadly brain cancer, she began a crusade to fund research and improve the quality of care for others like her. Morris died at 57.” Read more at New York Times
“1.88 million — The approximate number of people who have been killed by Covid-19 so far this year, exceeding the entire 2020 death toll from the virus. Even as wealthy nations beat back the virus with vaccines, the pandemic is far from over.
4 months — The length of the prison sentence handed to the man who slapped French President Emmanuel Macron. The slap came Tuesday as Macron visited a small town in southern France. The man said he was acting on behalf of the antiestablishment yellow-vests movement, which arose in 2018 in opposition to Macron’s policies.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Hong Kong is instructing censors to ban any movie that could be seen as endorsing activities that would contravene the national security law imposed by China last year, the latest curb on freedom of expression in the Asian financial hub. As Iain Marlow reports, they’ve been told to be mindful of their duty to prevent and suppress acts or activities that threaten the ‘territorial integrity’ of China.” Read more at New York Times
“More than 350,000 people in Ethiopia are experiencing dire hunger, with millions more facing ‘high levels of acute food insecurity,’ according to a new report from the United Nations and other aid groups. The famine in the country's Tigray region stems from a conflict that began in November between Ethiopian government troops and the region's former ruling party. The fighting has resulted in ‘population displacements, movement restrictions, limited humanitarian access, loss of harvest and livelihood assets, and dysfunctional or non-existent markets,’ the report said. The situation is expected to worsen through September.” Read more at CNN
“OHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa has been gripped by the mystery of whether a woman has, as has been claimed, actually given birth to 10 babies, in what would then be the world’s first recorded case of decuplets.
Gosiame Thamara Sithole from the Tembisa township near Johannesburg gave birth to the babies on Monday, according to the Pretoria News newspaper which quoted the parents. The babies — seven boys and three girls — have not made a public appearance or been captured on camera, although they were born prematurely, the newspaper reported.
The South African government said it is still trying to verify the claim.
That’s led to South Africans obsessing on social media over whether the story of the ‘Tembisa 10’ is indeed true.
The father, Teboho Tsotetsi, told the paper his wife had given birth in a hospital in the capital Pretoria. He said it was a big surprise for the parents after doctors only detected eight babies in pre-natal scans.” Read more at AP News
“BEIJING (AP) — The dusty, rocky Martian surface and a Chinese rover and lander bearing small national flags were seen in photos released Friday that the rover took on the red planet.
The four pictures released by the China National Space Administration also show the upper stage of the Zhurong rover and the view from the rover before it rolled off its platform.
Zhurong placed a remote camera about 10 meters (33 feet) from the landing platform, then withdrew to take a group portrait, the CNSA said.
China landed the Tianwen-1 spacecraft carrying the rover on Mars last month after it spent about three months orbiting the red planet. China is the second country to land and operate a spacecraft on Mars, after the United States.
The orbiter and lander both display small Chinese flags and the lander has outlines of the mascots for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics.” Read more at AP News
“Bryson Kliemann has been collecting Pokémon cards since he was 4 years old and has hundreds in his collection. But the 8-year-old decided to sell them to pay for treatment to save his puppy Bruce's life – a gesture that has rippled across the nation and raised thousands for sick pets.
At the request of her friends, Kimberly Woodruff, Bryson's mother, set up a GoFundMe called ‘Just a boy trying to save his dog’ and it had received over $23,200 in donations as of Friday morning. The family has also received messages of support and generous gifts from people around the world.
Bryson Kliemann sits with his dog, Bruce. When Bruce got sick, Bryson decided to sell his prized Pokémon cards to save his dog's life.Kimberly Woodruff
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