More than 1,000 protesters at White House Call on Biden to protect abortion rights
More than 1,000 protesters gathered in front of the White House on Saturday, with hundreds risking arrest by sitting at the building’s gates, as they urged President Joe Biden to take more action to protect abortion rights at the federal level. The protest came one day after Biden issued an executive order intended to ensure access to abortion medication and emergency contraception. But the order fell short of the demands of many activists and progressive lawmakers who had called on the White House to protect abortion access after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month.
Investigation finds pattern of sexual abuse of teens in JROTC program
For more than a century, the JROTC program has sought to instill U.S. military values in American teenagers, with classes in thousands of public high schools. But a New York Times investigation — which included an examination of thousands of court documents, investigative files and other records obtained through more than 150 public disclosure requests — has found the program has repeatedly become a place where retired military officers prey on their teenage students. In the past five years, the Times found, at least 33 JROTC instructors have been criminally charged with sexual misconduct involving students, far higher than the rate of civilian high school teachers in jurisdictions examined by the Times.
Sri Lanka’s leader will resign, ally says
With his home overrun by protesters, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka agreed Saturday to resign, according to the country’s top lawmaker. Rajapaksa’s apparent decision to step down was the culmination of months of public pressure and protest over the government’s inability to address a crippling economic crisis. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, the speaker of Parliament and an ally of the president, said Rajapaksa agreed he would resign Wednesday “to ensure a peaceful transition of power.” There was no direct confirmation about the potential resignation from Rajapaksa, who is in hiding and who has defied previous calls to leave office.
After a brutal assassination, Japan mourns and carries on
A day after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a political rally, police in Japan faced sharp questions about the adequacy of his security, even as parliamentary candidates resumed campaigning Saturday, in a sign that despite the tragedy, political life was carrying on. White vans bearing large photos of politicians and blaring their names from loudspeakers rode through the streets. Candidates fist-bumped with supporters and posed for selfies. And politicians, many from Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, made their final appeals to voters before an election Sunday, in the shadow of deep mourning.
Blinken presses China’s top diplomat on Ukraine
The battle in Ukraine shifted to a geopolitical front Saturday as Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the Chinese foreign minister at the end of a Group of 20 summit in Indonesia, pressing him to change positions and join the United States and partners to “stand up” against Russia’s war, while also trying to ease overall tensions with Beijing. It was a change of tone for the Biden administration, which just over a week ago pushed for a NATO blueprint to include a sharp rebuke of China, labeling its policies “coercive,” its cyberoperations “malicious” and its rhetoric “confrontational.”
UN: Russia and Ukraine are to blame for nursing home attack
A U.N. report says Ukraine’s armed forces bear a large share of the blame for a deadly assault on a care home for the elderly and disabled. Ukrainian fighters occupied the facility in March and then battled Russian forces while dozens of patients and staff were trapped inside. Ukrainian authorities placed the fault squarely on the Russian troops, accusing them of killing more than 50 vulnerable civilians in a brutal and unprovoked attack. But the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that Ukrainian soldiers occupied the nursing home a few days before the attack, effectively making the building a target.
Amid chaos, some at July 4 parade ran toward gunfire to helpPeople from every corner of the Highland Park community sprung into action on July 4 after a gunman opened fire on a parade route in the Chicago suburb. Bystanders tied tourniquets and administered CPR, and doctors and nurses ran to the scene to help. Nearly a dozen people, including off-duty doctors, nurses, a football coach and a tech salesman, were among the first to administer lifesaving assistance. They are relieved they could help, but wish they could have done more. And all are scarred by what they saw: broken bodies, awful injuries, and death.
By wire sources