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IMPORTANT | | | In Broad Daylight | Japan’s Former PM Shinzo Abe Assassinated on Campaign Trail Abe, 67, was shot in the back during a campaign speech in the city of Nara at 11:30 a.m. Friday. He was Japan’s longest-serving leader when he stepped down in 2020 for health reasons, but he was still highly influential. “It was a despicable and barbaric act that took place in the midst of an election, the very foundation of democracy,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told media. The murder has shocked Japan, which has a very low rate of violent crime and tough gun restrictions. Police arrested a suspect at the scene carrying what appeared to be a homemade gun. (Sources: Japan Today, AP) |
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| | Standing Firm | Boris Johnson Appoints New Cabinet Amid Calls to Move Out Now Don’t expect any “major changes of direction” from the ramshackle Cabinet appointed Thursday, the British prime minister promised. Instead, consider it a temporary steady hand. Labour Party opposition and some from Johnson’s own Conservative Party want to see him gone sooner, but he continues to swat away suggestions of a caretaker government. Would-be successors, including Brexit campaign leaders and former political allies, aren’t taking their time, launching bids for his job within hours of Johnson’s resignation. The Conservatives plan to announce a timeline for the leadership battle next week, with a new prime minister formally in charge by September. (Sources: BBC, The Guardian) |
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| | Diplomatic Words | War and Disruption Loom Over G-20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Bali Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with some of the most vocal critics of his government, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in the Group of 20’s first major event ahead of the leaders’ summit later this year. War is expected to dominate discussions, but political developments in the U.K. and the shock news from Japan unsettled proceedings. Still, host Indonesia urged the G-20 to address Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said, “It is our responsibility to end the war sooner than later and settle our differences at the negotiating table, not at the battlefield.” (Sources: AP, Reuters) |
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| | Money Matters | IRS Taps Treasury Inspector to Investigate Comey, McCabe Audits The tax collection agency vowed yesterday to get to the bottom of allegations that former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe were illegally targeted with unusually invasive audits. The particular audits are meant to be random and rare with just a few thousand Americans subjected to them a year, prompting suspicions that the two were targeted after drawing the ire of then-President Donald Trump. The audits were conducted during the tenure of Trump-appointed Commissioner Charles Rettig. While Rettig ordered the investigation, the White House hinted that he’ll be replaced when his term ends in November. (Sources: NYT, The Hill) |
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| | Briefly | Here are some things you should know about today: Detente? Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz met at the West Bank ahead of a visit from U.S. President Joe Biden next week. Meetings between the two governments are rare, but it was reportedly on “positive terms.” (Source: France 24) More time. Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd, has been sentenced to 21 years in federal prison for violating Floyd’s civil rights. He’s currently serving 22 1/2 years in state prison. (Source: CNN) Appeal. Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell have filed an appeal on the 20-year sentence handed down last week for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. (Source: Bloomberg) |
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INTRIGUING | | Breakthroughs | People With Down Syndrome Team Up to Tackle Alzheimer’s The chromosomal condition causes chronic brain inflammation and increases the risk of people developing Alzheimer's disease in their 40s and 50s. Both factors make the cohort a compelling case study for drugs that target amyloid, a substance that builds up in the brains of those with Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s. “People with Down Syndrome give us a unique opportunity to understand what modulates the severity and the progress of Alzheimer's disease,” Joaquin Espinosa, a leading researcher, said. Finding volunteers isn’t difficult: Many older people with Down syndrome are aware it’s a matter of when, not if, they develop Alzheimer’s. (Source: NPR) |
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| | High Fidelity | Audio Tech Is a-Changin’ and It’s Paying Off for Bob Dylan Can you put a price on music history? One superfan puts it at $1.7 million: That’s how much they spent on a one-of-a-kind 2021 recording of “Blowin' in the Wind.” It was Dylan’s first studio recording of the song since 1962, captured using the newly invented Ionic Original analog audio format. For Dylan and producer T Bone Burnett, the recording is about making a point. “We are not contriving scarcity. This is actually scarce. It is a unique, handmade, original recording,” Burnett explained. “We have all been conditioned to accept the terms of and react to things from the frame of mass production.” (Sources: Reuters, Variety) |
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| | Blood Money | Former Theranos Exec Found Guilty of 12 Fraud Charges Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the former president and chief operating officer at the infamous Silicon Valley health startup, was found guilty of all counts by a federal jury Thursday. It comes six months after Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of defrauding investors. Balwani faces up to 20 years in prison for each count — but white-collar crimes rarely see the maximum sentencing. His defense argued that Holmes was solely responsible for decisions, but witnesses said otherwise. “I considered Mr. Balwani and Elizabeth to be unified in all of their decision-making processes,” said Mark Pandori, a former lab director at Theranos. (Sources: Gizmodo, WSJ) |
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| | | High Flyer | Robot Plane Breaks Own Record, Spending 781 Days in Orbit The X-37B space plane set another endurance record — “as it has on every mission since it first launched in 2010,” according to manufacturer Boeing Space. Much of the technology on board is top secret, but some capabilities have been released, like a Navy-designed device that can convert solar power into microwaves to beam back to Earth. So what will the plane be used for? Despite some excitable theories about orbital weapons or capturing satellites, experts say the craft’s small size means it’s best suited for testing new technologies in orbit — just like U.S. military officials have always said. (Source: Space) |
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| | Jail Horror | Brittney Griner Pleads Guilty in Moscow Drug Case “I'd like to plead guilty, your honor. But there was no intent. I didn't want to break the law,” the WNBA star told the court yesterday. She was detained in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, where authorities found her carrying vape cartridges with hashish oil, which is banned in Russia. Griner returns to court July 14, when her trial will continue despite her guilty plea. Elizabeth Rood, an official at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, emphasized “the commitment of the U.S. government at the very highest level to bring home safely Ms. Griner and all U.S. citizens wrongfully detained.” (Source: ESPN) |
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