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IMPORTANT
| | | | | They Do | US House Passes Bill Protecting LGBT Marriage Equality It’s in direct response to Justice Clarence Thomas’ suggestion that the Supreme Court should reverse its previous judgments on LGBT rights. The Respect for Marriage Act passed 267-157, with 47 Republicans joining all Democrats. If it passes the Senate — and that’s a big if — it will repeal the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act, which stated marriage is “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” Polls suggest 71% of Americans support gay marriage, but Senate Democrats are yet to commit to putting the bill to a vote before the chamber’s summer recess in two weeks. (Sources: Politico, The Hill) |
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| | | Bromances | Russia, Iran and Turkey Bond Over Conflict at Tehran Talks Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi focused on the Syrian conflict, but the Iranians also shared support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “If the road would have been open to NATO, it will not recognize any limit and boundary,” Khamenei said, adding that Moscow had to act first or the West “would have waged a war” over the Crimean Peninsula. NATO member Turkey, meanwhile, used the talks to float fresh military operations across the border in Syria targeting Kurdish fighters. It’s Putin’s second visit abroad since the war began. (Sources: AP, Al Jazeera) |
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| | | Next Stage | From One Unpopular President to Another in Sri Lanka Lawmakers in Colombo voted interim President Ranil Wickremesinghe into the top job as the face of Sri Lanka’s economic and political crisis — but he remains deeply unpopular with the people’s movement that forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country last week. Wickremesinghe easily carried the vote, beating challenger Dullus Alahapperuma 134-82. While Alahapperuma is the favored candidate among many ordinary Sri Lankans, critics say he lacks the governance experience needed to navigate the coming months. Still, with many protesters vowing to return to the streets if Wickremesinghe doesn’t go, there may still be upsets ahead anyway. (Sources: BBC, Reuters) |
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| | | Scorcher | UK Burns With Record Highs — Is This the New Normal? Much of the U.K. sweltered through record high temperatures Tuesday, exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) for the first time ever. But don’t be lulled by the sudden drop in temperature expected over the week, scientists say: This “grim milestone” is “a wake up call about the climate emergency.” Firefighters raced to contain fires across the country while public health officials warned 1,000 people were expected to die as a result of the heat wave. “If we continue under a high emissions scenario we could see temperatures like these every three years,” said weather agency chief scientist Stephen Belcher. (Source: The Guardian) |
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| | | Briefly | Here are some things you should know about today: Mourning. Japan will hold a state funeral for slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in September — the first for a national leader since 1967. (Source: Kyodo) It’s a date. A Delaware court has sided with Twitter in its legal battle with Elon Musk. The judge agreed to fast-track its case in forcing the $44 billion sale of the platform. They’ll meet again in October. (Source: WSJ) Feeling sick. China is nearing 1,000 new COVID-19 cases a day, with most centered around the Guangxi and Gansu regions. (Source: Bloomberg) |
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INTRIGUING
| | | | | Work to Do | The Human Genome Puzzle Is Missing a Lot of Pieces We all share 99.9% of DNA, but what’s in that 0.1%? Scientists say that’s where we get our variations — from eye color to disease risk — but there’s one major problem. Currently 87% of genome data comes from individuals of European backgrounds, while just 10% comes from Asian ancestry and only 2% from Africa. That “creates gaps in knowledge about the genomes from people in the rest of the world,” the U.S.-based National Human Genome Research Institute says. Deeper diversity could help researchers single out variants that impact health outcomes at the individual and community level. (Source: DW) |
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| | | Name Game | A Very Meta David Vs. Goliath Battle Shapes Up An installation art company that has operated under the name Meta for years is suing the social media giant for violating its trademark. “On October 28, 2021, Facebook seized our META mark and name, which we put our blood, sweat, and tears into building for over twelve years,” it said in a statement. Noting the social network’s string of privacy scandals, Meta-the-art-company said its own brand could be mistakenly “associated with the toxicity that is inextricably linked with Facebook.” It’s one of a handful of companies that call themselves Meta, including a hard seltzer producer and a prosthetics manufacturer. (Source: The Verge) |
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| | | Disorganized Crime | ‘Law & Order’ Crew Member Murdered in Life-Imitates-Art Ambush Johnny Pizarro, 31, was sitting in his car in New York City in the early hours of Tuesday morning when an unknown suspect approached, opened the door and shot him. He was taken to the hospital but declared dead on arrival. Pizarro was in the area as security and parking enforcement for Law & Order: Organized Crime, which was filming in the neighborhood. “We were terribly saddened and shocked to hear that one of our crew members was the victim of a crime early this morning and has died as a result,” said a joint statement from NBC and studio Universal Television. (Source: Variety) |
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| | | True Crimes | Serial Killers Are Out, Mass Shooters In for ‘Murderabilia’ Market The ghoulish industry that’s sold John Wayne Gacy’s paintings and Jeffrey Dahmer’s glasses is “the most nauseating thing in the world” for victims and their families, advocate Andy Kahan says. While 45 states have laws preventing criminals from profiting from their crimes or selling their possessions, those laws are rarely enforced. And cracking down on murderabilia may be harder given the recent boom in true crime content. Meanwhile, as serial killers decline in the U.S., mass murder is on the rise. Today it’s mass shooters who stand to profit from collectors seeking murderabilia from massacres like Parkland and Columbine. (Source: Slate) |
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| | | The Game That Lived | Real-Life Quidditch Becomes Quadball, Breaking Rowling Ties Yesterday U.S. Quidditch and Major League Quidditch rebranded themselves as U.S. Quadball and Major League Quadball, citing the anti-trans views of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling as the impetus for change. “The sport has also always drawn heavily from the LGBTQ+ community and maintaining a welcoming space ... is really important to us,” MLQ spokesperson Jack McGovern said. Quadball, which started as a real-life take on the broomstick-riding magical sport from Rowling’s books, is now played in 40 countries. The name change also frees it from the watchful eye of trademark-owning Warner Bros., which could let quadball fly even higher. (Source: NPR) |
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