Trump employee warned of charges in classified documents case
A low-level employee of the Trump Organization has received a target letter from special counsel Jack Smith in connection with the investigation into former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, suggesting that the employee could face charges and confirming that the broader inquiry continues, according to a person familiar with the matter. The employee, whom the person declined to name, received the letter in the past few weeks after appearing in May before a federal grand jury in Washington. Prosecutors have been trying to establish whether any of Trump’s aides or employees interfered with the government’s attempts to obtain security camera footage from Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s private club and residence in Florida.
House narrowly passes defense bill, setting up showdown over social issues
Republicans on Friday rammed through the House a deeply partisan defense bill that would limit abortion access, transgender care and diversity training for military personnel, setting up a showdown with the Senate. The coming fight could imperil the crucial annual measure to provide a pay raise for troops, set defense policy to counter U.S. adversaries and sustain Pentagon programs at a time of rising threats. The House passed the measure on a vote of 219-210 with nearly unanimous Republican support, a significant victory for the far-right faction that forced a reluctant Speaker Kevin McCarthy to open the bill to an array of social policy prescriptions by threatening to block it if they did not get their way.
Iowa governor signs six-week abortion ban into law
Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa, a Republican, signed a strict abortion ban into law Friday, even as a judge heard arguments to suspend it. Reynolds had vowed to sign the measure that was passed this week by the Legislature. It was immediately challenged in Polk County court by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood, and on Friday those groups were in court seeking to temporarily block the law while their legal case moved forward. The new law bans most abortions after cardiac activity is detected, which anti-abortion groups say is around six weeks of pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant. It takes effect immediately.
Jesse Jackson to step down from Rainbow PUSH Coalition
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a longtime civil rights leader and former Democratic presidential candidate, plans to step down as president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the organization he founded, the group said in a statement Friday. Jackson, 81, has had several health issues in recent years and announced in 2017 that he had Parkinson’s disease. The Rainbow PUSH Coalition said in a statement that a successor to Jackson would be introduced at its annual convention, which is being held this weekend in Chicago. Jackson said he would work with the new president and the board through the change.
Biden, DNC announce $72 million in fundraising, a substantial haul
President Joe Biden’s campaign on Friday announced a combined fundraising haul of more than $72 million from April through June alongside the Democratic National Committee and a joint fundraising committee, a figure that far surpasses what former President Donald Trump and other leading Republican presidential candidates have announced. While the fundraising total is well short of the $105 million Trump and his allies collected during the same period in his 2020 reelection campaign, it is likely to serve as a salve for Democrats who have been privately gloomy about Biden’s sagging approval ratings.
Pence raises just $1.2 million, aides Say, in worrying sign for 2024 bid
Former Vice President Mike Pence has raised a paltry $1.2 million for his presidential campaign, according to two campaign aides, a sum that raises dire questions about Republicans’ appetite for Pence in 2024. Now Pence’s campaign is fighting to qualify for the first televised Republican presidential debate next month in Milwaukee. An aide said he had not yet received donations from 40,000 donors, the threshold required to make the debate stage. Pence, who entered the race June 5, was always a long-shot candidate in a contest dominated by his onetime running mate, former President Donald Trump.
India launches lunar mission with a shot at winning this year’s moon race
India is on its way back to the moon after a rocket lifted off from Sriharikota, a launch site off the country’s East coast, on Friday. The mission, Chandrayaan-3, is largely a do-over after the country’s first attempt at putting a robotic spacecraft on the surface of the moon nearly four years ago ended in a crash and a crater. Chandrayaan-3 is taking place amid renewed interest in exploring the moon. The United States and China are both aiming to send astronauts there in coming years, and a half dozen robotic missions from Russia, Japan and the United States could head there this year and next.
New heat wave descends on Europe, as it struggles to adapt
Tourists sheltered under umbrellas in Florence, Italy, looking for shade. Street vendors peddled fans and straw hats. Locals splashed their faces at water fountains, all seeking a respite from Europe’s latest heat wave. Extreme summer has become the norm. Although Europe is warming more swiftly than the global average, each year it seems unprepared. A report published this week attributed 61,000 deaths in Europe to searing temperatures last summer. This year, in some parts of southern Europe, heat waves started as early as May. Temperatures this week in Florence and Rome, among other places, have been above 37 degrees Celsius (nearly 99 degrees Fahrenheit).
Wagner troops can keep fighting, but without Prigozhin, Putin says
Three weeks after a brief mutiny in Russia by the Wagner mercenary group, President Vladimir Putin said its troops could keep fighting, but without their leader. The future of Wagner and its personnel, who have played an important role in Putin’s war against Ukraine, remains in doubt. But the Russian leader made clear that he intends to sideline Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who directed the uprising, in an interview published late Thursday. Putin said he had praised Wagner fighters for their military feats and suggested that a different Wagner leader take over from Prigozhin, according to Russian news sources.
U.S. cluster munitions arrive in Ukraine, but impact on battlefield remains unclear
U.S. officials and military analysts warn that U.S.-made cluster munitions probably will not immediately help Ukraine in its flagging counteroffensive against Russian defenses as hundreds of thousands of the weapons arrived in the country, according to Pentagon officials. Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy, acknowledged last week that “no one capability is a silver bullet” but said cluster munitions would allow Ukraine “to sustain the artillery fight for the foreseeable future.” Cluster munitions scatter tiny bomblets across the battlefield that can cause grievous injuries even decades after the fighting ends.
Israeli unions and military reservists renew resistance to judicial overhaul
Union chiefs, business leaders and military reservists in Israel have warned the far-right government that proceeding with its plan to limit judicial powers without a social consensus could lead to another wave of national strikes and business closures. The latest warnings set the stage for a showdown comparable to an earlier wave of social turmoil in March, when labor strikes, disquiet in the military and mass protests destabilized large parts of Israel’s economy. Now, lawmakers in the governing coalition have again pledged to push through part of the plan before parliament closes for its summer recess at the end of July, prompting the threat of further unrest.
Alcohol poisonings rise in Iran, where bootleggers defy a ban
Iranians have found ways around the Islamic Republic’s long-standing ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol, which over time has led to a flourishing and dangerous bootleg market. In the past three months, alcohol poisonings have reached 10 cases per day of hospitalizations and deaths, according to official tallies in local news reports. The culprit is methanol, found in homemade distilled alcohol and counterfeit brand bottles, apparently circulating widely, according to Iranian media reports and interviews with Iranians who drink, sell and make alcohol. To many Iranians, the deaths are an example of how the Islamic Republic’s religious rules oppress ordinary citizens.
by wire sources