We discuss the future of Libya and whether stability is any closer after yesterday’s Berlin conference. Then, what does the striking down of voting rights legislation mean for bipartisanship during Biden’s presidency?
Plus: Monocle’s new Quality of Life rankings are out; where did your city come?
Scores of sea lions apparently panicked by predator orcas or gale-force winds have taken refuge on the beaches of Tome, a town in Chile
Five stories to know for June 23:
1. The U.S. Senate failed to advance legislation that would have opened up a protracted debate over voting rights after Republicans blocked the move, leaving the effort in limbo.
2. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was leading a field of 13 Democratic candidates in Tuesday’s primary election, though the outcome likely won’t be known for weeks. The totals were enough to force a concession from former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
3. President Joe Biden plans to unveil new steps to curtail U.S. gun violence including measures aimed at stemming the flow of firearms used in crimes, after pledging to push for sweeping changes to firearms laws.
4. Hong Kong’s pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily will print its last edition, the paper said, after a stormy year in which it was raided by police and its tycoon owner and other staff were arrested under a new national security law.
5. Iran said that Washington had agreed to remove all sanctions on Iran’s oil and shipping, and take some senior figures off a blacklist, at talks to revive Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with global powers which are now on a pause.
1. Voters in New York City head to the polls to select Democratic and Republican nominees for mayor, following a campaign dominated by debate over public safety.
2. Severe thunderstorms tore through the Chicago area after the National Weather Service said a ‘confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado’ had touched down in a western suburb of the city, causing damage.
3. The White House will pursue other initiatives to boost voting rights even if a contentious federal bill to counter state voting restrictions passes the Senate, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
4. Las Vegas Raiders’ defensive end Carl Nassib said he was gay, making him the first active National Football League player to come out publicly.
5. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to jail people who refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as the Philippines battles one of Asia’s worst outbreaks.
The merest mention of future interest-rate rises from America’s central bank sent markets into a tizzy. We consider the merits and the effects of signalling early and often.
Europe’s drug use dipped when the pandemic began, but soon rebounded; we examine the rising potency of the continent’s drugs and drug syndicates. And data reveal what makes work-from-home productivity so low.
Five stories to know for June 21:
1. Democrats in the U.S. Senate this week will try to advance legislation setting new national election standards, seeking to counter voting-rights rollbacks that Republican legislatures are pursuing across the country.
2. Nine children and a young father were killed when a van and other vehicles slammed together on a rain-drenched Alabama highway during Tropical Storm Claudette.
3. A bipartisan infrastructure plan costing a little over $1 trillion has been gaining support in the U.S. Senate, but disputes continued over how it should be funded.
4. Western officials warned Tehran that negotiations to revive its nuclear deal could not continue indefinitely, after the sides announced a break following the election of a new hardline president in Iran.
5. Ethiopians voted in national and regional elections that the country’s prime minister has billed as proof of his commitment to democracy after decades of repressive rule in Africa’s second-most populous nation.
The weekend’s top discussion topics with Georgina Godwin: Charles Hecker with the newspapers, Monocle editor in chief Andrew Tuck’s column and a report on the resurrection of one of Europe’s grandest rail routes.
New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s politics, including emails showing attempts by former President Donald Trump’s team to overturn the 2020 election results, efforts toward election reform in the Senate, how President Joe Biden fared during his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Juneteenth.
Five stories to know for June 18, 2021:
1. The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a Republican bid to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, preserving the landmark healthcare law for the third time since its 2010 enactment.
2. Juneteenth is now a federal holiday. Joe Biden signed into law a bill making June 19 a national holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans.
3. China launched three astronauts up to its unfinished space station on the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft. The astronauts will live in a module called ‘Tianhe’ for three months.
4. Israeli aircraft struck Hamas sites in Gaza on Thursday night after incendiary balloons were launched from the Palestinian enclave, for the second time this week, since a fragile ceasefire ended 11 days of deadly fighting last month.
5. Iranians voted in a presidential election likely to be won by a hardline judge subject to U.S. sanctions.
A look ahead to the weekend’s regional election in France, a look at the state of US foreign policy after an eventful week for president Biden, plus the renaissance of night trains in Europe.
Boomers Daily 