Important Takeaways:
- Stoltenberg said nuclear transparency should be the cornerstone of NATO’s nuclear strategy to prepare the alliance for what he described as a more dangerous world.
- A decade ago, when the 65-year-old assumed his role at the top of the bloc, nuclear exercises were conducted in complete secrecy.
- Now he openly praises a number of its 32 allies for contributing to the deterrent, including most recently The Netherlands for investing in dual-capable fighter jets that can host US nuclear weapons.
- “Transparency helps to communicate the direct message that we, of course, are a nuclear alliance,” Mr. Stoltenberg said. “NATO’s aim is, of course, a world without nuclear weapons, but as long as nuclear weapons exist, we will remain a nuclear alliance, because a world where Russia, China and North Korea have nuclear weapons, and NATO does not, is a more dangerous world.”
- He warned that China in particular was investing heavily in modern weaponry including its nuclear arsenal, which he said would grow to 1,000 warheads by as early as 2030.
- Stoltenberg insisted that the US and its European allies were now modernizing their nuclear deterrent in the face of increased threat from Russia.
- The number of operational nuclear weapons is top secret but estimates suggest the UK has about 40 of 225 deployed at any one time. The US has about 1,700 of 3,700.
- France, NATO’s third nuclear power, does not make its atomic arsenal available to the alliance because of a long-held decision to maintain independence over its own deterrence.
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Important Takeaways:
- US braces for extreme weather – from southern heat wave to winter storm warnings: Map reveals where dangerous conditions will hit
- The US will be hit with severe hot and cold weather this week
- Montana will see up to 15 inches of snow in higher regions
- But the northeast and south are facing a massive heatwave
- The US National Weather service has issued heat advisories for many states in the northeast and Mid-West, including Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York State, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Indiana and Iowa.
- The weather agency warned that Texas and New Mexico in the south would face extreme heat as well.
- Experts predict that Florida’s hurricane season will likely be unusually busy.
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates there is an 85 percent chance that the Atlantic hurricane season will be above average.
- It is predicting between 17 and 25 named storms in the coming months including up to 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes. An average season has 14 named storms.
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Important Takeaways:
- How it started… how it’s going: Cost of living still way up compared to pre-Biden norm
- President Biden welcomed Wednesday’s inflation report that showed prices rose less than expected in May, but the cost of living for millions of Americans is still much higher than it was before he assumed office.
- Data from the Labor Department confirms that housing expenses, energy and vehicle maintenance costs have all increased by double digits since January 2021.
- As of May, shelter costs are up 21.4%, home prices have increased 33.9% and rent is up 21.4%, according to indexes tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mortgage rates on a 30-year fixed loan have shot up to an average of 6.99% as of June 6, 2024, from 2.77% in January 2021 — a whopping increase of 152%, according to Freddie Mac
- Gas prices are currently sitting at a national average of $3.45 per gallon, down from $3.50 last week as low demand and increasing supply provide relief at the pump, AAA said. But overall, today’s prices are still 45% more expensive than in January 2021, when it cost $2.38 per gallon to fill up.
- Electricity costs are up about 29% since Biden took office.
- It also costs more to buy a car (20.4% increase), maintain it (30.5%) and insure it (51.3%) than it did four years ago.
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Important Takeaways:
- Erin Fox has tracked drug shortages for more than 20 years, and she sees no easy solutions for what has become a record run.
- Total active shortages hit an all-time high of 323 in this year’s first quarter, according to the University of Utah Drug Information Service. That’s up about 86% from a 10-year low of 174 last reached in 2017.
- There were 48 new shortages recorded this year through March, according to the data, published by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
- Q: Is there any good news?
- A: Last year, Congress held four hearings on shortages. They’re still very interested. People are really starting to talk about doing hard work both on the policy side but also maybe a little bit of Congressional action to really try to move this problem forward.
- I’ve been leading our efforts to provide data on drug shortages since 2001. This is truly the most interest I’ve ever seen.
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Important Takeaways:
- Florida is bracing for another day of rain and devastating flash flooding despite already reeling from historic rainfall that has left entire neighborhoods underwater.
- An additional 2 to 5 inches of rain could fall, the fourth straight day of flood concerns for South Florida.
- Elsewhere in the U.S., 31 million people are under the risk for severe storms Friday across two areas: one across the western high Plains and the other in the Northeast.
- This weekend 12 million people are under heat alerts across the West and into Southwest Texas with triple-digit highs forecast including a high of 113 in Phoenix forecast Saturday.
- Highs in the 90s are forecast for the Southeast, where high humidity will make it feel like over 100 degrees.
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Important Takeaways:
- Members of the group initially entered the US at the southern border and requested asylum under US immigration law. It’s unclear whether they entered at the same time and place.
- By the time intelligence collected on overseas ISIS targets connected the men to the terror group, they had already been vetted by immigration authorities and allowed into the country, officials said.
- Though there is no hard evidence indicating they were sent to the US as part of a terror plot, at least some of the Tajik nationals had expressed extremist rhetoric in their communications, either on social media or in direct private communications
- After a period of surveillance, federal officials in recent days faced a difficult decision: whether to continue surveilling the men in order to determine if they were part of any potential plot or wider terrorist network, or to move in and take them off the street.
- The men remain in federal custody on immigration charges and will eventually be deported following the counterterror investigation into them.
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Important Takeaways:
- “This case demonstrates the abuse of power by executive federal agencies in the rulemaking process,” Doughty said in his ruling. “The separation of powers and system of checks and balances exist in this country for a reason.”
- Doughty ruled that the changes were inadmissible because the term “gender discrimination” as used in the establishment of Title IX “only included discrimination against biological males and females at the time of enactment.”
- The ruling blocks implementation of the changes in Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho.
- Title IX is a longstanding civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools and other education centers that receive federal funding.
- Under the administration’s new rules, sex discrimination would include discrimination based on gender identity as well as sexual orientation.
- Critics say that the change will allow locker rooms and bathrooms to be based on gender identity.
- Lawsuits against the Biden administration’s changes — similar to the Louisiana case — are underway in states across the country.
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Important Takeaways:
- The statement by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and Vladimir Putin’s predecessor as president, came as the West sharply escalated sanctions on Moscow in efforts to degrade its ability to wage war in Ukraine.
- “We need to (respond). Not only the authorities, the state, but all our people in general. After all, they – the U.S. and its crappy allies – have declared a war on us without rules!” Medvedev wrote on his official Telegram channel, which has over 1.3 million followers.
- “Every day we should try to do maximum harm to those countries that have imposed these restrictions. Harm their economies, their institutions and their rulers. Harm the well-being of their citizens, their confidence in the future.”
- Diplomats say Medvedev gives a flavor of hardline and high level thinking in the Kremlin, though Kyiv and Kremlin critics play down his influence, casting him as a scaremonger whose job is to deter Western action over Ukraine.
- In his latest comments he spoke of the need to find critical vulnerabilities in Western economies, to target energy, industry, transport, banking and social services, and to stir up social tensions.
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Important Takeaways:
- A possible impending visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korea could deepen military ties between the two countries in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, officials of South Korea and the United States warned on Friday.
- On Wednesday, a senior official at Seoul’s presidential office said Putin was expected to visit North Korea “in the coming days”.
- North Korea and Russia have denied arms deals but vowed to deepen cooperation across the board, including in military relations.
- The U.S. intelligence community assesses, however, that these relationships – including that between Moscow and Pyongyang – will remain “far short” of formal alliances because parochial interests and wariness of each other will most likely limit their cooperation, Haines said.
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Important Takeaways:
- Governor Greg Abbott announced earlier this month the creation of the Texas Top Ten Most Wanted Criminal Immigrants List
- “When President Joe Biden took office, he dismantled every effective border policy his predecessor put into place,” Governor Abbott said in a written statement on June 5. “As a result, we have seen record high levels of illegal immigration, including dangerous criminals and terrorists who are a threat to the public safety of our state and our nation.”
- The Texas Department of Public Safety announced the arrest this week of 38-year-old Victor Hugo Chox Gonzalez, a Mexican national illegally present in the United and the number one most wanted criminal illegal immigrant.
- Crimes allegedly committed by members of the Texas 10 Most Wanted Criminal Illegal Immigrants list include:
- Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child
- Indecency with a Child by Sexual Contact
- Assault of a Public Servant
- Murder with a Deadly Weapon
- Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child Under 14
- Sexual Assault
- Terroristic Threat
- Burglary with Intent to Commit Another Felony
- Attempt to Commit Smuggling of Persons for Pecuniary Benefit
- Eight members of the most-wanted list remain at large. Officials and members of the public with information on these fugitive migrants should call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477).
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