Most say nation on wrong track, including Dems: AP-NORC poll
A new poll shows an overwhelming and growing majority of Americans say the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction, including nearly 8 in 10 Democrats. The poll, by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, finds that deep pessimism about the economy continues to plague President Joe Biden. Eighty-five percent of U.S. adults polled say the country is on the wrong track. Seventy-nine percent describe the economy as poor. The findings suggest Biden faces fundamental challenges as he tries to motivate voters to cast ballots for Democrats in November’s midterm elections. The poll shows only 39% of Americans approve of Biden’s leadership overall, while 60% disapprove.
1955 warrant in Emmett Till case found, family seeks arrest
A team searching a Mississippi courthouse for evidence about the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till has found the unserved warrant charging a white woman in his 1955 kidnapping. And relatives of the victim say they now want the woman brought to justice nearly 70 years later. Leflore County Circuit Clerk Elmus Stockstill tells The Associated Press the warrant was found last week. It named a woman now known as Carolyn Bryant Donham on a kidnapping charge in Till’s abduction. Donham was never arrested, and Till relatives in the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation now want her taken into custody.
Truck carrying dead migrants passed through US checkpoint
A tractor-trailer that ended up in San Antonio with more than 50 dead or dying migrants passed through a federal immigration checkpoint inside the United States without being inspected, a Mexican official said Wednesday. The truck crossed the checkpoint, operated by the Border Patrol, shortly before 3 p.m. Monday as it drove north along Interstate 35 from the border region, Francisco Garduño Yáñez, the head of Mexico’s National Institute of Migration, said at a news conference. Officials said Wednesday that at least 53 of the people inside, from countries including Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, died from the extreme heat. Several others were being treated in local hospitals.
A more muscular NATO confronts Russia and China
NATO leaders on Wednesday outlined a new vision that names Moscow as the alliance’s primary adversary but also declares China to be a strategic “challenge.” The alliance, born in the Cold War, came to view a post-Soviet Russia as a potential ally and did not mention China. But that was before Feb. 24, when Russian forces invaded Ukraine. “The deepening strategic partnership between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation and their mutually reinforcing attempts to undercut the rules-based international order run counter to our values and interests,” NATO leaders said in a new mission statement.
Dictator’s son Marcos Jr taking oath as Philippine president
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is to be sworn in as president of the Philippines on Thursday 36 years after an army-backed “People Power” revolt booted his father to global infamy. Marcos Jr.’s rise to power is one of history’s greatest political comebacks, but opponents say it was pulled off by whitewashing his family’s image. A public holiday, monuments and the Philippine Constitution are reminders of his father’s tyrannical rule. Activists and survivors of the martial law-era under his father plan protests timed to Marcos Jr.’s inauguration at noon. Historical baggage and antagonism stand to hound Marcos Jr. during a six-year presidency beginning at a time of intense crises.
Russians fight to encircle Ukraine’s last eastern stronghold
Russian forces are battling to surround the Ukrainian military’s last stronghold in a long-contested eastern province, as shock still reverberates from a Russian airstrike on a shopping mall that killed at least 18 people. Moscow’s battle to wrest the entire Donbas region from Ukraine saw Russian forces pushing toward two villages south of Lysychansk while Ukrainian troops fought to prevent their encirclement. The U.S. director of national intelligence said Wednesday the most likely scenario is a “grinding struggle” in which Russia consolidates its hold over southern Ukraine by the fall. Meanwhile, search teams and relatives raced to find people missing in the wreckage of the Amstor shopping center in the city of Kremenchuk.
By wire sources
