“SURFSIDE, Florida (AP) — The slow work of sifting through the remnants of a collapsed Florida condo building stretched into a sixth day Tuesday, as families desperate for progress endured a wrenching wait for answers.
‘We have people waiting and waiting and waiting for news,’ Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters Monday. ‘We have them coping with the news that they might not have their loved ones come out alive and still hope against hope that they will. They’re learning that some of their loved ones will come out as body parts. This is the kind of information that is just excruciating for everyone.’
The work has been deliberate and treacherous. Just two additional bodies were found Monday, raising the count of confirmed dead to 11. That leaves 150 people still unaccounted for in the community of Surfside, just outside Miami.
Authorities are meeting frequently with families to explain what they’re doing and answer questions. They have discussed with families everything from how DNA matches are made to help identify the dead, to how will next of kin be contacted, to going into ‘extreme detail’ about how they are searching the mound, the mayor said.” Read more at AP News
“Investigators are on the scene of the Florida condo collapse, trying to figure out how and why a portion of the building came down. A six-person team of scientists, structural engineers and a geotechnical engineer from the National Institute of Standards and Technology is conducting a preliminary investigation of the collapsed building's materials, history and applicable building codes at the time it was built, the surrounding ground and other factors. Documents show condo owners were also facing assessments for about $15 million worth of repairs, with payments set to begin a week after the building's deadly fall. The tragedy has raised haunting questions about building integrity that reach far beyond South Florida. Meanwhile, families are still holding out hope for good news in the agonizing rescue process. So far, 11 people have died and 150 remain missing. “ Read more at CNN
“A powerful group of college sports leaders recommended Monday that student-athletes be allowed for the first time to earn money from autograph signings, personal appearances, endorsements and their social media platforms, which would be a groundbreaking shift that could see players earn millions of dollars.
The policy, put forward by a National Collegiate Athletic Association committee, comes as the organization faces demands to move away from its longstanding position that athletes should, at most, be allowed to receive scholarships and stipends for some living costs.
A final decision by the N.C.A.A.’s Division I Board of Directors, which largely includes university chancellors and presidents, is expected on Wednesday. But approval is widely anticipated, and the new approach would go into effect the next day.
Much of the immediate pressure is coming from eight states, which starting Thursday will give athletes the opportunity to earn money off their fame, no matter what the N.C.A.A. does. Last week, a Supreme Court ruling left the N.C.A.A. more vulnerable to antitrust cases brought in connection to athletes’ payments.
Some athletes have already begun making plans to cash in on their renown. Jordan Bohannon, a men’s basketball player at the University of Iowa, has announced plans for an apparel line that will debut on Thursday, and the University of Wisconsin’s starting quarterback, Graham Mertz, posted a video with a personal logo.
Most athletes are expected to earn modest sums, if anything at all. But the highest-profile players — the likely professional stars of the future — could earn hundreds of thousands of dollars before they join the big leagues. The loosened rules are also expected to increase financial opportunities for women, who enjoy loyal audiences as college athletes but typically make much less money than men if they turn professional.
Some industry experts expect the most prominent players to charge $1,000 or more an hour for endorsement work or appearances. Many athletes’ value will be closely connected to their online presences; Paige Bueckers, the women’s basketball star at Connecticut, has more than 829,000 followers on Instagram, for instance, while Spencer Rattler, a quarterback at Oklahoma, has more than 370,000.” Read more at New York Times
“The threat of the Delta variant has some health officials rethinking Covid-19 measures, even among vaccinated people. Experts have said vaccines like those from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech provide high amounts of protection against the variant, but some warn breakthroughs could become more likely if the virus becomes more prevalent. Already in Los Angeles County, officials have reinstated mask guidance for public indoor spaces, regardless of vaccination status. Other parts of the world are getting even stricter. South Africa has entered at least two weeks of lockdown to combat a third wave of Covid-19 linked to the Delta variant. About 10 million Australians, including residents in four of the country’s eight capital cities, are also under lockdown.” Read more at CNN
“The unprecedented heat wave in the US Northwest rages on, painting a harrowing picture of the kind of extreme temperatures the climate crisis will bring. Portland has set all-time high temperature records, topping out yesterday at 115 degrees. Seattle also reached a record high of 107 degrees. Outdoor venues and services have had to close, and at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, the US Olympic track and field trials were suspended Sunday due to extreme heat. Even more concerning, a lack of air conditioning in some major cities has exacerbated health concerns. Experts say the Pacific Northwest isn’t prepared for heat of this caliber.” Read more at CNN
The Supreme Court left in place a decision that allowed a transgender student to use the bathroom that corresponded to his gender identity. It is a victory for the LGBTQ community, which worried the conservative-leaning high court would reverse the lower court’s decision. The case originated in Virginia, and the ruling covers several states, which means students in those areas can use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity. The issue is unsettled in other states, and another appeal could conceivably make its way back to the Supreme Court. In related news, California announced it will ban state-funded travel to Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia over what it deems anti-LGBTQ laws recently enacted there.” Read more at CNN
“WASHINGTON (AP) — A new committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol would have 13 members and the power to subpoena witnesses, according to legislation released by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The House is expected to vote on the bill this week.
The effort comes after Senate Republicans blocked the formation of an independent, bipartisan commission to probe the attack, in which hundreds of former President Donald Trump’s supporters violently broke into the Capitol and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.
The new, partisan House panel would have eight members appointed by Pelosi and five appointed ‘after consultation with’ Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. A Pelosi aide said the speaker is considering including a Republican among her appointments, which would bring the likely partisan split to 7-6. The aide was granted anonymity to discuss her thinking.” Read more at AP News
“NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia’s government declared an immediate, unilateral cease-fire Monday in its Tigray region after nearly eight months of deadly conflict as Tigray fighters occupied the regional capital and government soldiers retreated in a region where hundreds of thousands are suffering in the world’s worst famine crisis.
The cease-fire could calm a war that has destabilized Africa’s second most populous country and threatened to do the same in the wider Horn of Africa, where Ethiopia has been seen as a key security ally for the West. It comes as the country awaits the results of national elections that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed promoted as the centerpiece of reforms that won him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
Abiy’s transformation from making peace to waging war has appalled many observers since the fighting in Tigray erupted in November. Since then, the world has struggled to access much of the region and investigate growing allegations of atrocities including gang rapes and forced starvation. Thousands of people in the region of 6 million have been killed.
Ethiopia’s statement was carried by state media shortly after the Tigray interim administration, appointed by the federal government, fled the regional capital, Mekele, and called for a cease-fire on humanitarian grounds so that desperately needed aid can be delivered.” Read more at AP News
“House passes bipartisan bill to boost scientific competitiveness. The legislative package is aimed at boosting U.S. scientific competitiveness to keep pace with China, setting the stage for final negotiations with the Senate, which passed its own $250 billion bill earlier this month.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“U.S. troops under fire. U.S. troops in Syria came under rocket fire on Monday in apparent retaliation to U.S. airstrikes on Iran-linked militias in Iraq and Syria late Sunday night. The governments of both Iraq and Syria condemned the U.S. strikes, with Syria’s foreign ministry calling it a fl’agrant violation of the sanctity of Syrian and Iraqi lands’ and the Iraqi government saying it would ‘study all legal options’ to prevent more U.S. strikes in future. Senators Bob Menendez and Chris Murphy have questioned the legal foundations on which the White House ordered the strike.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) — For nearly 20 years, Bagram Airfield was the heart of American military power in Afghanistan, a sprawling mini-city behind fences and blast walls just an hour’s drive north of Kabul. Initially, it was a symbol of the U.S. drive to avenge the 9/11 attacks, then of its struggle for a way through the ensuing war with the Taliban.
In just a matter of days, the last U.S. soldiers will depart Bagram. They are leaving what probably everyone connected to the base, whether American or Afghan, considers a mixed legacy.
‘Bagram grew into such a massive military installation that, as with few other bases in Afghanistan and even Iraq, it came to symbolize and epitomize the phrase ‘mission creep’,’ said Andrew Watkins, Afghanistan senior analyst for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.
U.S. Central Command said last week that it’s well past 50% done packing up Bagram, and the rest is going fast. American officials have said the entire pullout of U.S. troops will most likely be completely finished by July 4. The Afghan military will then take over Bagram as part of its continuing fight against the Taliban — and against what many in the country fear will be a new eruption of chaos.” Read more at AP News
“U.N. rights chief endorses reparations. U.N. Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet launched a report on Monday calling for ‘transformative’ actions, including reparations, to combat anti-Black racism and ‘make amends ‘to Black people worldwide. The report, which was ordered after the murder of George Floyd last year and analyzed roughly 60 countries found that there were ‘striking similarities’ in the barriers preventing Black people from accessing justice.
‘A main part of the problem is that many people believe the misconceptions that the abolition of slavery, the end of the transatlantic trade and colonialism have removed the racially discriminatory structures built by those practices,’ Mona Rishmawi, who heads a branch in the office of the U.N. Human Rights Commissioner, said. ‘We found that this is not true.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Prosecutors in New York could soon bring an indictment against the Trump Organization related to the taxation of lucrative perks that it gave to top executives, such as use of apartments, cars and school tuition.
The 45th president is not expected to be personally charged but the legal drama could bankrupt his company by damaging its relationships with banks and other business partners, as well as clouding his political comeback.
Ron Fischetti, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, held a virtual meeting with prosecutors last Thursday for about 90 minutes in an effort to dissuade them from pursuing criminal charges against the company.
‘The charges are absolutely outrageous and unprecedented, if indeed the charges are filed,’ Fischetti told the Associated Press (AP) on Friday. ‘This is just to get back at Donald Trump. We’re going to plead not guilty and we’ll make a motion to dismiss.’
Fischetti and his colleagues had until Monday to make their final arguments against charges being brought, according to a report in the Washington Post.” Read more at The Guardian
Demonstrators gathered June 25 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to demand that the university offer tenure to award-winning investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. (Jonathan Drew/AP)
“The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s board of trustees has scheduled a special meeting Wednesday that could lead to a vote on tenure for award-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, as the university faces intense controversy over its handling of her appointment as a professor of journalism.
UNC officials published a notice of the meeting on Monday afternoon, three days before Hannah-Jones was supposed to start on the faculty. There was no agenda item immediately available, and a university spokeswoman declined to elaborate. A report Monday from the news site NC Policy Watch, citing two unnamed board members, said trustees were expected to vote on tenure for Hannah-Jones.
The showdown over tenure for Hannah-Jones, known for her work on the 1619 Project on slavery and history, has been intensifying for weeks. UNC announced in April that Hannah-Jones had been hired to hold the prestigious Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media. Her start date was to be Thursday.” Read more at Washington Post
“In a significant blow to US regulators’ attempt to rein in big tech, a federal judge has dismissed lawsuits brought against Facebook by the Federal Trade Commission and a broad coalition of state attorneys general.
Markets cheered the ruling, sending Facebook shares surging by more than 4%, which pushed the social network’s market value to more than $1tn (£722bn) for the first time.
The US government and 48 states and districts sued Facebook in December 2020, accusing the tech company of abusing its market power in social networking to crush smaller competitors and seeking remedies that could include a forced spin-off of the social network’s Instagram and WhatsApp messaging services.
But on Monday,the US district judge James Boasberg ruled that the lawsuits were ‘legally insufficient’ and didn’t provide enough evidence to prove that Facebook was a monopoly. The ruling dismisses the complaint but not the case, meaning the FTC could refile another complaint.
‘These allegations – which do not even provide an estimated actual figure or range for Facebook’s market share at any point over the past 10 years – ultimately fall short of plausibly establishing that Facebook holds market power,’ he said.
The FTC had alleged Facebook engaged in ‘a systematic strategy’ to eliminate its competition, including by purchasing smaller up-and-coming rivals such as Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. The New York attorney general, Letitia James, said when filing the suit that Facebook ‘used its monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users’.” Read more at The Guardian
“The Myanmar military’s vise-like grip on power is creating difficult and unexpected conundrums. Staffers at Myanmar's dozens of diplomatic posts around the world are faced with the choice of staying in their roles and being forced to represent the junta that has killed hundreds of pro-democracy protesters and locked up democratically elected leaders, or leave and risk placing themselves and their families in danger. A new report reveals the junta has such strong control over the country's jade trade that it would be ‘nearly impossible’ to buy the gemstone without enriching the generals and their allies. Myanmar produces about 70% of the world's jade, worth billions of dollars and fueled in large part by demand in neighboring China.” Read more at CNN
“Hammer thrower Gwen Berry turned away on the podium when The Star-Spangled Banner was played. Now, one congressman says she should be kicked off Team USA.” Read more at USA Today
“United Airlines placed the biggest aircraft order in its history, and expects to create 25,000 unionized jobs by 2026 in an effort to capitalize on the rebound in passenger travel, Axios' Joann Muller writes.
Why it matters: Domestic leisure travel has bounced back, but business and international travel remain depressed, making United's plan a significant bet on future growth.
United announced the purchase of 270 new Boeing and Airbus aircraft, — the largest order by any carrier in the past decade.
‘Everything we see, every day, tells us that business and international travel will ultimately come back 100%,’ United CEO Scott Kirby told reporters.” Read more at Axios
“In the months since former President Trump left office, news audiences have plunged — and publishers who rely on partisan warfare have taken an especially big hit, Axios' Neal Rothschild and Sara Fischer report.
Why it matters: Outlets that depend on controversy to stir up resentments have struggled to find a foothold in the Biden era, according to an Axios analysis of publishers’ readership and engagement trends.
Web traffic, social media engagement and app user sessions suggest that while the entire news industry (including Axios) is experiencing a drop, right-wing outlets are seeing some of the biggest plunges.
A group of far-right outlets, including Newsmax and The Federalist, saw aggregate traffic drop 44% from February through May compared to the previous six months, according to Comscore data.
Lefty outlets including Mother Jones and Raw Story saw a 27% drop.
Mainstream publishers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Reuters dropped 18%.
Engagement on social media has taken the biggest dive, according to data from NewsWhip.
Left-leaning and right-leaning publishers have seen social interactions on stories drop by more than 50%, while mainstream publishers have experienced a slightly more modest drop of 42%.
The big picture: Opposition media traditionally relies on traffic booms when a new party takes office. But right-wing outlets have seen some of the most precipitous declines in readership since a Democratic president took office.
What's happening: The personality-driven controversies of the Trump years have been largely absent under President Biden.
Changes to the media landscape could also be at play. There's been enormous growth in conservative podcasts over the past year.” Read more at Axios
“Standing up | The European Union is working on potential legal action against Poland for its crackdown on LGBTQ rights, Alberto Nardelli and Stephanie Bodoni report. The move could come as soon as next month over Poland’s so-called “LGBTQ-free zones,” which seek to ban pride parades and other gay-friendly events and have fueled fear and discrimination.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Mexico’s Supreme Court removed prohibitions on marijuana consumption, eliminating all legal obstacles for the Health Ministry to authorize planting, harvesting, possession and transportation of pot for personal use by adults. It’s the latest step in Mexico’s path to becoming one of the largest nations to fully regulate the industry, more than two years after the court ordered Congress to change the cannabis ban.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Jacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court after failing to appear before a corruption inquiry earlier this year.
Zuma, 79, who was the president for nearly nine years until 2018, was not present to hear the South African constitutional court deliver its ruling and sentence.” Read more at The Guardian
“2,500 — The number of U.S. troops based in Iraq. The U.S. recently retaliated with drone strikes after militias attacked in April. The drone attacks have fueled concerns that the paramilitaries are turning to more sophisticated means of pressuring the American presence in the country.
$40 million — The sum Juul has to pay to settle a lawsuit that alleges the vaping company targeted teens. Once one of the most valuable startups in the U.S., Juul has been blamed by parents and government officials for an increase in teen vaping from 2017 to 2018.
97% — The proportion of Covid-19 test samples in Uganda where the Delta variant was found. The variant is surging across Africa, the continent with the fewest vaccines and weakest healthcare systems.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Lives Lived: Paulo Mendes da Rocha, an architect known for a muscular style called Brazilian Brutalism, was dedicated to building for the public. His ‘concrete acrobatics’ won him the Pritzker Prize in 2006. Mendes da Rocha has died at 92.” Read more at New York Times
Bronze plaques on display at the British Museum
“Returning the Benin Bronzes
In 1897, invading British soldiers stole thousands of artifacts from the Kingdom of Benin, today part of Nigeria. In Britain, the events are known as the Punitive Expedition. In Nigeria, they are known as the Benin Massacre, because of the residents whom British forces killed.
Activists, historians and royals in Nigeria have called for the return of the art, but museums resisted, arguing that their global collections served ‘the people of every nation.’
As Europe confronts its colonial history, though, some institutions are changing their position. Germany has said it will return a substantial number of Benin Bronzes (as the items are known) next year, and the National Museum of Ireland plans to return 21 objects. The works will probably go to a new museum in Benin City, scheduled for completion in 2026.
For many Nigerians, the partial return doesn’t go far enough. The looted objects ‘form part of the bedrock of the identity, culture and history of Benin,’ Ruth Maclean and Alex Marshall write in The Times. Read more at New York Times
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