House overwhelmingly passes bill to improve air travel
The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for the next half-decade, moving at a time of growing dysfunction and disruption in the system to make a number of changes that affect passengers. The bill would address airlines’ refunds and reimbursement obligations to passengers, enhance protections for passengers with disabilities, boost hiring of air traffic controllers, shore up aviation safety, unlock funding to modernize airport infrastructure, invest in upgrades to the agency’s technology and more. The House passed it on a vote of 351-69, sending it to the Senate.
Biden administration moves to raise the cost of drilling
on federal lands
The Biden administration on Thursday proposed a rule that would raise the royalties that fossil fuel companies pay to pull oil, gas and coal from public lands for the first time since 1920, while increasing more than tenfold the cost of the bonds companies must pay before they start drilling. The Interior Department estimated the new rule, which would also raise various other rates and fees for drilling on public lands, would increase costs for fossil fuel companies by about $1.8 billion between now and 2031. After that, rates could increase again.
Survey of 30 U.S. cities
shows nearly 10% drop in homicides in 2023
In 2020, amid disruptions of the pandemic and the social upheaval following the police murder of George Floyd, the United States saw the largest increase in its homicide rate in modern history. Now, more than three years after the start of the pandemic, the country is on track to record one of its largest annual declines in homicides, according to a report released Thursday. The Council on Criminal Justice examined data from 30 U.S. cities and found that through the first half of the year there were 202 fewer homicides, a drop of more than 9%. Still, homicides across those cities are 24% higher than in same period of 2019.
Signature Biden program
won’t fix racial gap in air quality, study suggests
A new analysis has found that the White House’s signature environmental justice program may not shrink racial disparities in who breathes the most polluted air, in part because of efforts to ensure that it could withstand legal challenges. The program, called Justice40, aims to address inequalities by directing 40% of the benefits from certain federal environmental investments toward disadvantaged communities. But the Biden administration, in designing the program, purposely omitted race from the process of calculating who could benefit. The Supreme Court recently struck down race-based affirmative action in college admissions, a ruling that some believe could affect federal environmental programs.
Senate panel approves new Supreme Court ethics rules
with dim prospects
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved legislation that would impose strict new ethics rules on justices, moving over fierce objections from Republicans to address a string of revelations about Supreme Court justices taking free trips and receiving other financial benefits from wealthy benefactors. The legislation would require the high court to, at minimum, adopt and adhere to ethics and disclosure rules equivalent to those applied to members of Congress. It would also impose new transparency requirements and create a panel of appellate judges to review misconduct complaints made against the justices. Democratic members of the committee said the action was necessary because the court has refused to police itself.
Status of soldier Who entered North Korea remains unknown, U.S. says
U.S. officials said Thursday that they had no information on the whereabouts or condition of an Army soldier who crossed into North Korea without authorization and had not spoken to North Korean authorities about the incident. Pvt. Travis T. King was supposed to fly to Texas on Tuesday to face disciplinary actions for misconduct. But instead of boarding his flight at the international airport in Incheon, South Korea, about 30 miles west of Seoul, he joined a civilian group that went to tour the joint security area between North and South Korea at Panmunjom, where he ran across the border and was taken into custody by North Korean forces.
As Russia steps up attacks on grain ports, U.S. warns
of possible ruse
Russia on Thursday stepped up its aerial assaults on Ukrainian ports, as the White House warned that the Kremlin might be setting the stage for attacks on commercial transport ships. Moscow has told shipping companies that they now cross the Russian blockade in the Black Sea at their own peril, and could be treated as military targets. Russia is said to have placed mines in waters already mined by Ukraine to deter an amphibious assault, and in Washington, a White House official accused Moscow at a news conference of engaging in a false-flag operation to implicate Ukraine if Russia attacked a ship.
Kenya stares into ‘abyss’ as soaring prices and feuding leaders bring chaos
Kenya’s news outlets on Thursday set aside competitive rivalries to issue an urgent appeal for calm as Kenya plunged deeper into chaotic anti-government demonstrations that have left at least 31 people dead in recent weeks and present the gravest challenge yet to the nearly year-old rule of President William Ruto. “Let’s save our country,” read an identical banner headline across the front pages of multiple major papers. Kenya risks tumbling into “a dark and dangerous abyss,” the joint article said, if its leaders fail to resolve a boiling crisis that has destabilized one of Africa’s strongest democracies.
Wheat prices remain high amid concerns about Black Sea instability and grain supply
Wheat prices remained elevated Thursday, up 13% since Monday, when Russia pulled out of a wartime agreement that had been considered critical to stabilizing global food prices. The termination of the deal, which had permitted Ukraine to safely export its grain through the Black Sea, could have significant long-term consequences for grain supplies, said commodities analyst Alexis Ellender. Despite robust grain harvests from exporters including Brazil and Australia, prices could become volatile. Drought in Brazil, or a disruption to Australia’s crop caused by El Niño, could cause prices to soar, he said. Russian threats to attack commercial vessels heading to Ukrainian ports have stalled traffic in the area.
For Europe’s older population, heat is the new COVID
The heat waves that have scorched southern Europe over the past week have forced those who can afford it to seek shelter in air-conditioned homes and offices or at seaside retreats. But for many seniors, heat has become the new COVID. The searing temperatures have reinforced the isolation of many older people and threatened their health, pushing governments and social services to take extraordinary steps to try to protect them. The situation is especially dire in Italy. About 24% of Italians are older than 65, making it the oldest country in Europe, and more than 4 million of them live alone.
Video of sexual assault goes viral in India, renewing attention
on ethnic conflict
When a video showing two women being sexually assaulted went viral Wednesday in India, it shocked the nation, inflamed tensions and brought attention to ethnic clashes in the northeastern state of Manipur that have left more than 130 people dead and more than 35,000 displaced. The episode dates to May 4, when the clashes had just begun, but the video was slow to spread, partly because the internet in the region had been shut down as part of the Indian government’s response to the violence. The video spurred Prime Minister Narendra Modi to comment on the situation publicly for the first time, although he did not directly address the overall violence or offer solutions.
Reports of a lioness near Berlin prompt a sprawling search
German authorities said a “free-roaming lioness” near Berlin led to a search with more than 100 police officers, veterinarians and hunters as well as drones and helicopters involved. The search was focused on the areas of Teltow, Kleinmachnow and Stahnsdorf, three small towns along the southwest boundary of Berlin. Police received reports around midnight Wednesday of a wild animal chasing and eating a wild boar in Kleinmachnow, they said in a statement, and said the animal in a video that circulated of the sighting appeared to be a lioness. A police spokesperson said officers had also seen the animal, which had not been captured as of Thursday evening.
By wire sources
