The Full Belmonte, 6/7/2023
The U.S. will supply Ukraine with a controversial weapon.
“What is it? Cluster munitions, which are banned by most countries. These bombs explode in the air over a target, releasing up to hundreds of smaller explosives.
The latest: President Biden has approved sending the weapons to Ukraine. It comes as concern grows about Ukraine’s slow counteroffensive against Russia.
In Russia: The leader of last month’s failed revolt returned to the country.”
Read this story at WASHINGTON POST
Heat hit a global record three times this week and more records could fall
“In terms of the brutal summer heat, experts say people can expect more of the same on Friday. The interior Northwest and parts of the East Coast can expect more hot weather with Arizona still experiencing Excessive Heat Warnings and Critical Fire Risk.
The forecast comes after Wednesday was Earth's hottest day on record, based on a preliminary and unofficial data source, scientists said Thursday.
•It tied a mark set Tuesday, which — in turn — had broken the record set Monday.
•The records come as scientists say the planet is the hottest it has been in roughly 125,000 years. Experts believe more heat records will continue to fall this summer.
•The unusual warmth is the result of a combination of human-caused climate change, the strengthening El Niño and the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.” [USA Today]
A mother and child in a fountain in Coney Island on a hot afternoon on July 06, 2023 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
Spencer Platt, Getty Images
First proven Alzheimer's drug earns FDA approval
This illustration depicts cells in an Alzheimer’s affected brain. (National Institute on Aging, NIH via AP)
“The Food and Drug Administration has approved the drug lecanemab for people with early Alzheimer's disease, making it easier for older adults to get the first drug proven to slow memory and thinking problems. The decision was closely watched by patient advocates and scientists alike because Eisai and Biogen's drug, sold under the brand name Leqembi, is the first beta amyloid-targeting medication to pass the FDA's full review. The approval also is expected to trigger Medicare coverage for adults over 65 who have been unable to afford the $26,500-a-year drug.” Read more at USA Today
Biden administration OKs largest US offshore wind farm
“The federal government has approved the largest U.S. offshore wind energy project, which officials say could power hundreds of thousands of New Jersey homes with clean energy and is expected to create over 3,000 jobs through construction and development. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced its approval of Ocean Wind 1 project's plan for construction and operations this week, which will generate enough electricity to power up to 500,000 homes with nearly 100 wind turbines off the coast of southern New Jersey.” Read more at USA Today
On the one-year anniversary of the event, 23 doves awaited release as mourners held crosses honoring those killed in the 2019 Walmart shooting in El Paso, Texas.
El Paso shooting
“The gunman who killed 23 people and wounded 22 others at a Texas Walmart is expected to be sentenced today. For the past two days, survivors and relatives of victims of the August 2019 shooting in El Paso faced the man who carried out one of the deadliest attacks targeting Latinos in modern US history to deliver their impact statements. The 24-year-old gunman nodded "yes" Thursday when asked by the son of a victim if he was sorry for the massacre, but displayed no emotion. Prosecutors have recommended he receive consecutive life sentences for 90 federal charges, including hate crimes and firearms offenses.” [CNN]
PFAS is in 45 percent of US drinking water
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
“Roughly half of US tap water contains PFAS, “forever chemicals” linked to health problems, according to research from the US Geological Survey [Associated Press / John Flesher]
Thousands of PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, help consumer products resist heat, water, and grease. They are known as “forever chemicals” because they remain in the environment and the human body for long periods.[USA Today / Kayla Jimenez]
Researchers took samples from 716 locations and estimated that roughly 45 percent of them contained at least one PFAS chemical. Urban areas, the Great Lakes and Great Plains, the East Coast, and Central and Southern California faced the highest exposure. [The Hill / Rachel Frazin]
The Environmental Protection Agency has issued health advisories about PFAS — which are linked to cancer and obesity — and proposed putting limits on the allowable drinkable amounts of six forever chemicals. [CNN / Jen Christensen]
Concerned consumers can call their water utility to find out about local PFAS levels and use filters that remove some of the chemicals. [ NPR / Rachel Treisman]
Chemical companies responsible for the contamination have agreed to pay billions to detect and clean up PFAS, but the scale of the pollution means it will likely take decades and lots more investment.” [Truthout / Mike Ludwig] - VOX
“Trump aide Walt Nauta was arraigned today and is pleading not guilty in the Florida classified documents case.” [NBC News]
“Police say the Houston man who was reported missing 8 years ago was at home the whole time.” [NBC News]
“The far-right Freedom Caucus reportedly voted to oust Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) after she fought with fellow Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) on the House floor.” [Politico]
© The Associated Press / Andrew Harnik | Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) at the Capitol in January.
“OceanGate has announced it is suspending all exploration and commercial operations following the Titan submersible implosion.”[NBC News]
“War often makes for strange bedfellows.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the relationship between Poland, arguably Ukraine’s most stalwart ally in Europe, and the rest of Kyiv’s backers who are helping it defend itself from Russia’s invasion.
Poland, which harbors a bitter history with Russia dating back to long before Josef Stalin’s invasion at the start of World War II, has become the effective gateway to the war for weapons, volunteers and diplomatic trips by Kyiv’s allies.
Its president, Andrzej Duda, has become close with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy and has also leveraged an open channel with US President Joe Biden that helps Warsaw push other European Union countries to take a stronger line against the Kremlin on everything from sanctions to providing state-of-the-art NATO tanks.
While Poland is punching above its weight concerning the war, Duda and his allies in the governing nationalist Law & Justice party have tested limits with measures Washington and Brussels say undermine the rule of law.
The EU froze billions of euros in aid to Poland after it overhauled its courts in a way the bloc says infringes on their independence. Duda also approved a panel that would be used to investigate the head of the political opposition and only rowed back after the EU and US said the measure could undermine national elections in October.
But the exchange laid bare the paradox of Poland’s emergence on the European stage.
Duda is likely to have a prominent role at next week’s summit of NATO leaders, when he can tout Poland’s vast defense spending and his close ties to the Ukrainian leader at the center of events.
As part of a diplomatic tour ahead of that meeting, Zelenskiy is slated today to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, another leader criticized for an authoritarian bent, while also helping backstop Ukraine.
Poland and Turkey each have historical reasons to oppose Russian aggression in Ukraine. That’s creating common ground with US and European allies even as they’re increasingly in conflict on other key democratic values.” [Bloomberg] — Michael Winfrey
Duda and Zelenskiy in Warsaw in April. Photographer: Foto Olimpik/NurPhoto/Getty Images
“Canada is bracing for higher-than-normal wildfire activity to continue into August, as soaring temperatures and drought turn much of the country’s vast forests into kindling. The Canada fire season, which normally runs from April to September, is barely half over but the country has already surpassed the modern historical record.” [Bloomberg]
Lebel-sur-Quevillon in Quebec, Canada, on June 23 Photographer: Anadolu Agency
Cable car rescue
“A rescue operation is underway to help at least 70 people that became trapped overnight on one of the world's highest cable car systems. Officials were called to respond to a technical failure that affected the Quito Cable Car in Ecuador, according to local officials. The cable car, also known as the Telefériqo, runs through the sky along a power line nearly 13,000 feet above sea level. The ride travels over an 18-minute journey that offers a view of the Quito cityscape and the surrounding mountains, its website says. Dozens of emergency workers, including paramedics, high mountain teams and aerial drone units, are assisting with the rescue efforts.” [CNN]
“Competition between the world’s biggest economies is not a ‘winner-take-all’ situation, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said today, as she called for the US and China to manage their rivalry with a fair set of rules. Yellen made the comments in a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang during a visit to Beijing that’s aimed at finding some common ground between the superpowers.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing on July 6.Mark Schiefelbein/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
US audit officials have started a fresh round of inspections of New York-listed Chinese companies in recent weeks as tensions persist between the world’s two largest economies.
Washington expressed concern over China’s behavior toward Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, as Manila reported Chinese vessels ‘swarming’ south of an oil and gas-rich area in contested waters.
Pressure is building on Chinese authorities to back up their reassuring rhetoric on the economy with more substantive action. While Premier Li pledged yesterday to ‘spare no time’ in implementing targeted stimulus, he offered none of the specifics that investors want. Shares in China are headed for their third straight week of losses, the yuan is trading near an eight-month low and angst in the nation’s credit market is growing.” [Bloomberg]
EU officials are working to narrow the scope of export controls that China announced this week on gallium and germanium, key metals used in semiconductors, solar panels and electric vehicles, sources say. While China cites national security implications to justify the move, the EU is concerned Beijing is weaponizing critical materials.
“Taiwan is seeking to bolster its satellite communications to reduce the island’s dependency on 14 undersea cables that would be an easy target in the event of a war with China. Elon Musk and his Starlink network that has been so valuable in Ukraine is one obvious solution to prevent an internet blackout. Yet there are problems, not least Taiwan’s distrust of Musk given his business ties with China and pro-Beijing comments.” [Bloomberg]
“Israel’s police upheaval. Internal dissension continues to plague Israeli politics after Tel Aviv’s police commander quit the force on Wednesday. According to now former police chief Ami Eshed, members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right cabinet demanded that Eshed use excessive force against anti-government protesters. ‘I could have easily met these expectations by using unreasonable force that would have filled up the emergency room of Ichilov [Tel Aviv’s main hospital] at the end of every protest,’ Eshed said. ‘For the first time in three decades of service, I encountered an absurd reality in which ensuring calm and order was not what was required of me but precisely the opposite.’
Although Eshed did not explicitly name which cabinet members had pressured him, the former police chief implied that blame fell on National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir, who has repeatedly denounced those protesting Netanyahu’s proposed judicial overhaul plan, currently oversees the nation’s police force.” [Foreign Policy]
“Explosion in South Africa. A nitrate gas leak in Boksburg, South Africa, killed at least 16 people living in closely packed metal shacks on Wednesday. Three children were among those killed. According to local investigators, the toxic gas was used by illegal miners in the area to process gold, and a faulty gas cylinder caused the leak.
This is not Boksburg’s first tragic mass accident. Last December, 34 people died from a truck explosion in the town. The tanker was carrying liquefied petroleum gas, which is used throughout Africa for heating and cooking.” [Foreign Policy]
“Venezuela’s banned presidential hopeful María Corina Machado holds a large lead in opinion polls over a pack of 14 opposition contenders vying to run against the ruling party’s candidate, expected to be President Nicolás Maduro, in next year’s election. Andreina Itriago Acosta writes that Machado likely got a boost when the government last week barred her from running for public office until 2030.
“Chinese researchers are planning to spread a special reflective sheet across the Dagu Glacier high in the Tibetan plateau to shield it from the sun’s heat and hopefully preserve some of its ice. But as Sharon Chen and Luz Ding report, the scientists are under no illusion they can save Dagu, which has lost more than 70% of its ice over the past half century. The only real cure would be to drastically cut emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide, of which China is the world’s biggest source.” [Bloomberg]
Scientists cover part of the Dagu Glacier with sunlight-reflecting film on June 30. Source: Tencent
“US labor market showed fresh signs of resilience on Thursday, as private hiring surged, layoffs slowed and filings for unemployment benefits stayed relatively low. US companies added almost half a million jobs last month, the most in over a year, according to data from ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab. A separate report showed announced job cuts by US employers fell in June to an eight-month low.
That was also evident in the latest report on job openings. Vacancies declined in May—unwinding much of an April surge and indicating labor demand and supply are coming more into balance. The quits rate, however, rose by the most in nine months, indicating workers still feel confident in their ability to secure another job. “The labor market isn’t always going to be this strong. Recessions happen,” Nick Bunker, research director at Indeed Hiring Lab, said in a note. ‘But today’s data and data from the past several months continue to make a soft-landing scenario increasingly likely.’” ” [Bloomberg] —David E. Rovella
This image shows the landing page, timeline and a profile in Threads.
PHOTO: META
“It looks like Mark Zuckerberg is coming for Elon Musk’s lunch. The godfather of social media tweeted for the first time in more than a decade, and it probably wasn’t a coincidence that the Meta and Facebook co-founder just rolled out a much-anticipated Twitter substitute. As Musk’s flailing platform tumbles from self-induced crisis to crisis, more than 30 million users signed up for Zuckerberg’s new app. Meta’s Instagram officially unveiled ‘Threads’ on Wednesday, considered the most potent threat yet to the struggling Twitter. Here’s our comparison of the two apps.” [Bloomberg]
Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Source: Bloomberg
SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC
“Golf merger details: The Athletic reports on misconceptions about the proposed P.G.A./LIV merger, which awaits government approval.” [New York Times]
“A new star: Mirra Andreeva, 16, made a stunning run to the third round at Wimbledon.” [New York Times]
“A sneaky great year: Baseball fans have been focused on Shohei Ohtani. But Ronald Acuña Jr., the Braves outfielder, is doing things we haven’t seen on a baseball field.” [New York Times]
Wimbledon’s new star
“A buzz follows Mirra Andreeva wherever she goes at Wimbledon. The 16-year-old Russian has wowed crowds and pundits alike in her run to the third round. It’s even more impressive considering she played on grass for the first time a month ago. She’s already beaten No. 10 seed Barbora Krejčíková and faces No. 22 Anastasia Potapova today. Meanwhile, Taylor Fritz — the men’s highest-ranked American — lost his second-round match.” [New York Times]
”Snakes may comfort each other when stressed, new study finds
Much like humans, it appears that reptiles rely on their friends to stay calm.” [CNN]