Important Takeaways:
- A major expansion underway inside Iran’s most heavily protected nuclear facility could soon triple the site’s production of enriched uranium and give Tehran new options for quickly assembling a nuclear arsenal if it chooses to, according to confidential documents and analysis by weapons experts
- At Fordow alone, the expansion could allow Iran to accumulate several bombs’ worth of nuclear fuel every month, according to a technical analysis provided to The Washington Post. Though it is the smaller of Iran’s two uranium enrichment facilities, Fordow is regarded as particularly significant because its subterranean setting makes it nearly invulnerable to airstrikes.
- Iran already possesses a stockpile of about 300 pounds of highly enriched uranium that could be further refined into weapons-grade fuel for nuclear bombs within weeks, or perhaps days, U.S. intelligence officials say. Iran also is believed to have accumulated most of the technical know-how for a simple nuclear device, although it would probably take another two years to build a nuclear warhead that could be fitted onto a missile, according to intelligence officials and weapons experts.
- In private messages to the IAEA early last week, Iran’s atomic energy organization said Fordow was being outfitted with nearly 1,400 new centrifuges, machines used to make enriched uranium, according to two European diplomats briefed on the reports. The new equipment, made in Iran and networked together in eight assemblies known as cascades, was to be installed within four weeks. A leaked draft of the Iranian plan was initially reported by Reuters.
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Important Takeaways:
- How it started… how it’s going: Cost of living still way up compared to pre-Biden norm
- President Biden welcomed Wednesday’s inflation report that showed prices rose less than expected in May, but the cost of living for millions of Americans is still much higher than it was before he assumed office.
- Data from the Labor Department confirms that housing expenses, energy and vehicle maintenance costs have all increased by double digits since January 2021.
- As of May, shelter costs are up 21.4%, home prices have increased 33.9% and rent is up 21.4%, according to indexes tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mortgage rates on a 30-year fixed loan have shot up to an average of 6.99% as of June 6, 2024, from 2.77% in January 2021 — a whopping increase of 152%, according to Freddie Mac
- Gas prices are currently sitting at a national average of $3.45 per gallon, down from $3.50 last week as low demand and increasing supply provide relief at the pump, AAA said. But overall, today’s prices are still 45% more expensive than in January 2021, when it cost $2.38 per gallon to fill up.
- Electricity costs are up about 29% since Biden took office.
- It also costs more to buy a car (20.4% increase), maintain it (30.5%) and insure it (51.3%) than it did four years ago.
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Important Takeaways:
- “This case demonstrates the abuse of power by executive federal agencies in the rulemaking process,” Doughty said in his ruling. “The separation of powers and system of checks and balances exist in this country for a reason.”
- Doughty ruled that the changes were inadmissible because the term “gender discrimination” as used in the establishment of Title IX “only included discrimination against biological males and females at the time of enactment.”
- The ruling blocks implementation of the changes in Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho.
- Title IX is a longstanding civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools and other education centers that receive federal funding.
- Under the administration’s new rules, sex discrimination would include discrimination based on gender identity as well as sexual orientation.
- Critics say that the change will allow locker rooms and bathrooms to be based on gender identity.
- Lawsuits against the Biden administration’s changes — similar to the Louisiana case — are underway in states across the country.
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Important Takeaways:
- Diplomats and world leaders have begun to worry that Biden’s reluctance to more fully break with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could cost him the election in November.
- Their concerns have been conveyed largely behind closed doors, out of consideration not to wade too far into U.S. domestic politics.
- But the thrust is often the same: The war has furthered the perception that the world is peppered with a variety of out-of-control hot spots and, in turn, made Biden look weak among voters back home.
- They fear that it may usher in former President Donald Trump and rupture the broader diplomatic harmony Biden has worked to establish.
- European officials say they’re more vexed that Netanyahu hasn’t publicly supported the proposal, even though the U.S. says he privately agreed to it.
- Biden officials have dismissed concerns about the impact of the war on the president’s candidacy, pointing to polling showing that it doesn’t rank among voters’ top priorities ahead of the election.
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Important Takeaways:
- Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy will sign a 10-year bilateral security agreement at the G7 summit in Italy, as arguments continued on the sidelines about how the west can provide a Donald Trump-proof $50bn loan to Ukraine.
- As with the other bilateral pacts, the agreement with the US will not require America to come to Ukraine’s defense if attacked. But it could make it easier for Ukraine to enter into peace negotiations with Russia, as Kyiv would have some assurance about the help it would receive in the event of a further Russian attack.
- The US-Ukraine agreement does not require the authorization of Congress and could be undone by a future Trump administration.
- Biden has said previously that guarantees for Ukraine would be equivalent to those to Israel, covering financial and military assistance as well as the possibility of the joint weapons production.
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Important Takeaways:
- ‘People will die’: Biden’s border order will worsen migrants’ risks, experts say
- El Paso mayor says order ‘will save lives’ but advocates express concern over heat and exploitation by criminals
- The aggressive new election-year policy triggers a block on most asylum claims once the number of people crossing the border without authorization exceeds a certain level
- The mayor of El Paso, Texas, Democrat Oscar Leeser, said the order “will save lives, keep people from dying in the desert, jumping over the walls and falling, as well as keep them from being exploited”
- Dora Rodriguez, executive director of Salvavision, a group that provides aid to migrants on both sides of the border, said “People will die. Because they will not stop crossing”
- Experts and human rights advocates in El Paso are concerned that the unintended consequences of Biden’s executive action may be to worsen the risks for asylum seekers, while not deterring them from taking those risks
- And they warned that more obstacles in the asylum process will increase exploitation by criminals.
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Important Takeaways:
- Biden administration officials have discussed potentially negotiating a unilateral deal with Hamas to secure the release of five Americans being held hostage in Gaza if current cease-fire talks involving Israel fail, according to two current senior U.S. officials and two former senior U.S. officials.
- Such negotiations would not include Israel and would be conducted through Qatari interlocutors, as current talks have been, said the officials, all of whom have been briefed on the discussions.
- White House officials declined to comment.
- The officials did not know what the United States might give Hamas in exchange for the release of American hostages. But, the officials said, Hamas could have an incentive to cut a unilateral deal with Washington because doing so would likely further strain relations between the U.S. and Israel and put additional domestic political pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- The five Americans believed to be held in Gaza are Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Omer Neutra and Keith Siegel. The three Americans believed to have been killed during the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack are Itay Chen, Judy Weinstein and Gad Haggai.
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia and China, which hold veto powers in the U.N. Security Council, raised concerns on Thursday with a U.S. draft resolution that would back a proposal -outlined by President Joe Biden – for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.
- The council’s only Arab member, Algeria, also signaled it was not ready to back the text, diplomats said. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the U.S., France, Britain, China or Russia to pass.
- The current draft welcomes the ceasefire proposal, describes it as “acceptable” to Israel, “calls upon Hamas to also accept it, and urges both parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition.”
- Some council members have raised questions about whether Israel has actually accepted the plan and want the council to stick to a demand made in March for an immediate ceasefire and unconditional release of all hostages, diplomats said.
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Important Takeaways:
- Biden’s policy shift has triggered a tsunami of illegal immigration
- By December 2020, the U.S. had the most secure border in the history of our nation, and a proven plan to continue improvements. We had an overall decrease in entries and the highest level of situational awareness ever.
- Immediately following his inauguration, Biden fulfilled his campaign promise. He quickly terminated the migrant protection protocols and halted all border security infrastructure improvements.
- The border security gains earned over three decades vanished and Biden surrendered control of our border to transnational criminal organizations – the cartels.
- Over 1,000 illegal entries per day is more than enough to enable the cartels to shape the environment to facilitate the smuggling of narcotics, contraband and any alien willing to pay extra to avoid being fingerprinted
- The bottom line is that the chaos at the border is 100% Biden’s doing. Limiting illegal entries to 2,500 a day is political theater.
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Important Takeaways:
- Dwindling number of D-Day veterans mark anniversary with plea to recall WWII lessons in today’s wars
- The war in Ukraine shadowed the ceremonies, a grim modern-day example of lives and cities that are again suffering through war in Europe.
- “There are things worth fighting for,” said Walter Stitt, who fought in tanks and turns 100 in July, as he visited Omaha Beach this week. “Although I wish there was another way to do it than to try to kill each other. We’ll learn one of these days, but I won’t be around for that.”
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presence at the D-Day commemorations with world leaders who are supporting Ukraine fused World War II’s awful past with the fraught present.
- Feted everywhere they go in wheelchairs and walking with canes, veterans are using their voices to repeat their message they hope will live eternal: Never forget.
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