Biden’s lead among women is narrower than Trump’s edge with men
Almost every path to victory for President Joe Biden relies on strong support from women. But his current standing among women is the weakest lead a Democrat has had since 2004. Biden’s lead among women has slid to about 8 percentage points since the 2020 election, according to an average of more than 30 polls conducted over the last six months and compiled by The New York Times. That’s down from a lead among women of about 13 percentage points four years ago. And since the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump’s support among men has recovered to the double-digit lead he had in 2016.
Kennedy fails to qualify for CNN debate
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. failed to qualify for the CNN presidential debate on June 27 by the network’s Thursday deadline, according to the outlet, a significant blow to his independent presidential bid that will deny him a coveted national stage alongside President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Kennedy in a statement Thursday called his exclusion from the debate “undemocratic, un-American and cowardly.” Qualifying for the CNN debate, one of two presidential debates scheduled before Election Day, would have been a plum prize for the Kennedy campaign. No third-party or independent presidential candidate has been on the national debate stage since Ross Perot in 1992.
As storms quell wildfires, floods afflict New Mexico
Two wildfires continued to burn Thursday in southern New Mexico despite heavy rain a day earlier, forcing firefighters in the mountains around the village of Ruidoso to contend with a mix of raging flames and rushing floods. The fast-moving fires have killed two people, burned hundreds of homes and prompted thousands of evacuations. More rain was expected Thursday night, and though it was helping to control the blazes it also introduced a new danger: flash flooding from overflowing creeks. Already, much of the land around Ruidoso has been either saturated by rain or scarred by fire, which has made the flooding even worse.
Nearly 100 million under temperature advisories as heat wave lingers
Almost 100 million people across the United States spent the first day of summer Thursday sweltering in temperatures that topped 90 degrees, as meteorologists warned that the high-pressure system that scorched the country for the past four days would linger through the weekend in many places. The heat shattered temperature records and altered daily routines from the Midwest river valleys to the pine forests of New England, and left roughly one-third of Americans under extreme heat advisories, warnings or watches Thursday, according to the National Integrated Heat Health Information System.
European sanctions target Russian liquefied natural gas for first time
The European Union has agreed to a new raft of economic sanctions against Russian individuals and companies, the Belgian government said Thursday. Notably, they include measures aimed at squeezing Russia’s profits from the sale of liquefied natural gas to EU members. Most EU countries stopped importing natural gas that arrived by pipeline from Russia after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. But the bloc had refrained from initiating any formal sanctions against Russian gas imports, leading many EU countries to instead buy LNG from Russia, which arrives by ship. The latest action includes measures targeting imports of Russian LNG that pass through EU ports on the way to other countries.
New home construction slows as mortgage rates remain high
Construction of new homes in the United States dropped below expectations in May as builders pull back on new residential projects largely in response to high interest rates. Government data released Thursday showed that new-home construction, or housing starts, fell 5.5% last month to an annualized rate of 1.28 million, a sign of more cracks in the already shaky housing market. Building permits dipped 3.8%, pointing to less future construction. This downturn comes as the average rate on 30-year mortgages, the nation’s most popular home loan, has reached highs not seen in decades, though the rate dipped slightly this week to 6.87%, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.
TikTok lays out past efforts to address US concerns
TikTok on Thursday detailed why it thinks the new federal law that could lead to a ban of the popular video app in January is unconstitutional, calling the legislation an “extraordinary restriction on speech.” The company said Congress did not consider the law — which would force TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell the popular social media app or face a ban in the United States — with nearly enough scrutiny and care. TikTok made the arguments in a filing to the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, where the company sued to block the law in May.
IRS extends freeze of pandemic-era tax credit amid widespread fraud
The IRS is expanding its efforts to crack down on fraud in a pandemic-era tax credit program following an internal analysis that found a majority of outstanding claims appeared to be improper. The agency said Thursday that it was extending its freeze on new claims for the program, the Employee Retention Tax Credit, which allows businesses to collect up to $26,000 for each employee on its payroll. The original program, which was expanded in 2021, was projected to cost the federal government $55 billion over a decade. But by September, the IRS had received nearly 4 million applications and had paid out $230 billion in employee retention refunds.
Dutch leader is poised to become NATO chief
Mark Rutte, the departing prime minister of the Netherlands who has guided more than $3 billion in Dutch military support to Ukraine since 2022, on Thursday clinched the last assurance he needed to become NATO’s next secretary-general. On Thursday, President Klaus Iohannis of Romania dropped his bid to lead NATO, making it all but certain that Rutte, 57, would be formally elected to a four-year term at the helm of the Atlantic alliance. That could take place as soon as next week, before a high-level NATO summit in Washington in July. Rutte would be the fourth Dutch official to become the organization’s top diplomat.
Stonehenge Is sprayed with orange powder in climate protest
Two climate activists were arrested in England after they sprayed an orange powder on the monoliths at Stonehenge in what they said was an attempt to bring attention to the climate impact of fossil fuels. The attack on the prehistoric site came Wednesday as the stones would draw the attention of people marking the arrival of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. There appeared to be no damage to the stones, according to Nick Merriman, the CEO of English Heritage, a charity that manages Stonehenge. The protesters were facing charges of criminal damage, deterring a person from engaging in a lawful activity and damaging an ancient monument.
By wire sources