NY overhauls handgun rules in effort to preserve some limits
New York’s legislature has approved a sweeping overhaul of the state’s handgun licensing rules, seeking to preserve some limits after the Supreme Court said people have a right to carry a handgun for personal protection. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the measure into law after it passed both chambers by wide margins. The law is almost sure to draw more legal challenges from gun-rights advocates who said the state is still putting too many restrictions on who can get a gun and where they can carry it. Backers said the new law will strike the right balance between complying with the Supreme Court’s ruling and trying to ensure that weapons stay out of the hands of criminals.
Biden to award Medal of Freedom to Biles, McCain, Giffords
The White House says President Joe Biden will present the nation’s highest civilian honor to 17 people, including gymnast Simone Biles, actor Denzel Washington and the late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, with whom Biden served in the Senate. Biden will also recognize Sandra Lindsay, the New York nurse who rolled up her sleeve on live television in December 2020 to receive the first COVID-19 vaccination that was administered in the U.S. Other recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom are gun safety advocate Gabrielle Giffords, late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and U.S. women’s national soccer team player Megan Rapinoe.
California requires plastics makers to foot the bill for recycling
California has instituted a new requirement that makers of packaging pay for recycling and reduce or eliminate single-use plastic packaging. The law, signed by California’s governor Thursday, is the fourth of its kind to be passed by a state, although experts say it goes further in requiring producers to both make less plastic and to ensure that all single-use products are recyclable or compostable. Last summer, Maine and Oregon passed the country’s first such requirements. A key tenet of the laws: The costs of recycling infrastructure, recycling plants and collection and sorting facilities, will be shifted to packaging manufacturers and away from taxpayers, who currently foot the bill.
Oklahoma plans to execute 25 prisoners in 29 months
An Oklahoma court on Friday set execution dates for 25 death row prisoners, setting up a string of executions that would take place nearly every month over the next two years. The executions are set to begin in late August and run through December 2024. The 25 men on death row have all exhausted their appeals, but they were temporarily spared in recent years as Oklahoma stopped administering the death penalty in 2015 because of botched executions. In June, a federal judge upheld the use of the drug that had been used in the executions, the sedative midazolam, clearing the way for the courts to begin setting execution dates.
Landslide in India buries dozens, killing at least 18
At least 18 people were killed and more feared dead, after days of heavy rainfall set off a landslide in India’s remote and mountainous northeastern state of Manipur. It is the latest tragedy in a country that has been plagued by catastrophic rainfall and flooding in recent months. The extreme weather has destroyed communities, forced evacuations and threatened lives. On Friday, rescue workers in Manipur were still looking for dozens of people, who were instantly buried under layers of mud and rocks overnight Wednesday, when the landslide occurred in the Noney district. Indian television stations showed rescue personnel carrying mud-covered bodies on stretchers.
NKorea suggests ‘alien things’ from the South brought COVID
North Korea suggested Friday that the coronavirus had entered the country on foreign objects from South Korea, saying that its first reported outbreak had begun in villages near the countries’ border after people there touched “alien things.” North Korea did not directly blame the outbreak on the South. But its State Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters warned its people to “vigilantly deal with alien things” brought across the border by “balloons,” wind or “other climate phenomena.” After two years of claiming to have no COVID cases, North Korea declared a “maximum emergency” on May 12, saying that an outbreak had begun in late April.
Advanced US arms make a mark in Ukraine war, officials say
The most advanced weapons that the United States has so far supplied Ukraine are making an impact in their first several days on the battlefield, destroying Russian ammunition depots and command centers, U.S. and Ukrainian officials say. Ukraine’s military had eagerly awaited the arrival of the first batch of truck-mounted, multiple-rocket launchers, whose satellite-guided rockets have a range of more than 40 miles, greater than anything Ukraine had possessed. The weapons have even won grudging respect from some Russians for their accuracy and power, analysts said. Still, only four of the launchers and their U.S.-trained crews are in the fight, though four more are expected this month.
Russian missiles kill at least 21 in Ukraine’s Odesa region
Ukrainian authorities say Russian missile attacks on residential buildings in a coastal town near the port city of Odesa have killed at least 21 people, including an 11-year-old boy, his mother and a soccer coach. Video of the pre-dawn attack Friday showed the charred remains of buildings in the small town of Serhiivka. The Ukrainian president’s office said three X-22 missiles fired by Russian bombers struck an apartment building and a campsite. The assault came after Russian forces withdrew from a nearby Black Sea island on Thursday. Despite the withdrawal, Ukraine’s military reported Friday that Russian warplanes bombed Snake Island.
Monkeypox cases triple in Europe, WHO says, Africa concerned
The World Health Organization’s Europe chief has warned that monkeypox cases across the region have tripled in the last two weeks and called on countries to take stronger measures to ensure the previously rare disease does not become entrenched on the continent. In a statement on Friday, Dr. Hans Kluge said increased efforts were needed despite the U.N. health agency’s decision not to declare the escalating outbreak a global health emergency last week. To date, more than 5,000 monkeypox cases have been reported from 51 countries worldwide, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kluge said the number of infections in Europe represents about 90% of the global total.
By wire sources
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