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 Outside a park where kids ate waffle cones and hundreds of people listened to a concert in the band shell, volunteers collected signatures in support of placing a measure on the November ballot that would amend the state's constitution to safeguard abortion rights.

Amid all the volatility, every investor has the same question: When will things start to get better?

While none of us have a crystal ball that can accurately predict the future, the answer to that question will be directly connected to the issues that have caused the market's decline so far this year. Let's lay those out, and consider the potential catalysts that could cause it to rebound -- or move even lower -- in the second half.

Why has the stock market fallen so steeply this year?

In a nutshell, we've had a perfect storm of negative catalysts. Let's run through some of the biggest.

Inflation: After many central bankers and economists repeatedly assured us that any surges in inflation caused by the pandemic's secondary effects would be "transitory," we've all come to realize that's not the case. U.S. inflation is at its highest level since the early 1980s, and the Federal Reserve is aggressively trying to get it back under control. This has led to fears that its fiscal tightening will trigger a recession.

Their task took on new urgency after the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24 overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had legalized abortion nationwide and left the issue to individual states to regulate.

In Michigan, where opinion polls show the majority of people support abortion rights, Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer filed a lawsuit to invalidate a 1931 state law that makes abortions a felony and establish a state constitutional right to abortion. A court has temporarily blocked that law from being enforced, but the Republicans who control the state legislature want to keep the ban on the books or enact a new one.

Political tensions in Michigan over the future of abortion could be a harbinger of what may play out in a handful of other U.S. states with a similar dynamic - an electorate that favors abortion rights governed by a legislature determined to restrict them.

On Capitol Hill, House Democratic leaders are discussing ways to force Republicans into uncomfortable positions on abortion, plotting potential votes designed to expose GOP opposition to some popular protections and underscore their own commitment to them, according to aides with knowledge of the plans.

 

At the White House, President Biden first encouraged outraged Americans to express themselves at the ballot box and then, days later, shifted to a more aggressive posture, urging a change to the Senate filibuster to enable Democrats to codify abortion rights. Administration officials are also studying what more can be accomplished via executive action.

And across the country, liberal governors on the West Coast banded together to create a multistate haven aimed at protecting out-of-state abortion seekers from legal consequences, while TV ads about abortion aimed at helping Democratic candidates are hitting the airwaves in battleground states from New Hampshire to Florida.

Whitmer has made protecting abortion rights a centerpiece of her re-election campaign this year, saying she can veto any attempt by the legislature to pass a new ban.

"This could very quickly go from a state where abortion is safe and legal to one that makes it illegal with no exceptions," Whitmer said in an interview on Friday. "That's a very real threat."

Whitmer said she would promote the ballot measure if her own efforts to legalize abortion fail in the courts.

The coalition of abortion-rights and progressive groups behind the petition drive face a July 11 deadline to amass about 425,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot. As she gathered signatures outside the park in St. Clair Shores last week, volunteer Deborah Karcher, 46, said direct action is the best way to save reproductive rights.

"This is the will of the people," Karcher said. "Even if you don't agree with this, let's get it on the ballot. Let the people decide."

It remains to be seen if participants at Sunday’s summit in Accra, the Ghanaian capital. will accept the proposal.

ECOWAS sanctioned Mali in January by shutting down most commerce with the country, along with its land and air borders with other countries in the bloc. The measures have crippled Mali’s economy.

The juntas in Guinea and Burkina Faso have proposed three-year transition periods, which ECOWAS rejected as too long a wait for elections.

 

The wave of military coups began in August 2020, when Col. Assimi Goita and other soldiers overthrew Mali’s democratically elected president. Nine months later, he carried out a second coup, dismissing the country’s civilian transitional leader and assuming the presidency himself.

Mutinous soldiers deposed Guinea’s president in September 2021, and Burkina Faso’s leader was ousted in a January coup.

The political upheaval came as many observers started to think that military power grabs were a thing of the past in West Africa.

Opponents of the ballot measure, including religious and anti-abortion groups, also have mobilized, saying the language of the amendment would open the door to late-term abortions and block parental notification when minors seek the procedure.

STATE FIGHTS

Outside Michigan, a voter backlash over abortion restrictions could figure in elections in other states including Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which all have either a competitive governor's or U.S. Senate race this year.

Louis Jacobson, a political analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said these states are "where the rubber will really hit the road on this issue."

With President Joe Biden and his Democratic Party under fire from critics on matters such as inflation and crime, abortion "is the first potential issue that could boost the Democrats rather than hurt them," Jacobson said.

Whitmer is counting on that. The governor's first term was rocked by criticism from the right over the state's COVID-19 restrictions on businesses and schools. But recent polls have shown that more voters approve of her performance in office than Biden's.

Whitmer said she was raised by a Republican father who supported abortion rights, and she hopes to reach out to Republicans and independents who share those views.

"We know 70% of the people in our state support a woman being able to make her own healthcare decisions and abortion being an option," Whitmer said. "That means it crosses party lines."

Whitmer's Republican challengers, who will square off in an Aug. 2 primary, all support a ban on abortion and oppose the ballot measure.

National Democrats have placed Michigan on the short list of states where they believe they can shift the balance of power in the state legislature as part of what the party calls its "States to Save Roe" campaign.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the arm of the party that supports candidates for state legislatures, has said it is raising money to provide strategic planning and voter data analysis to support races in states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Authorities said that Warragamba Dam in western Sydney began overflowing overnight and the peak spill would be comparable to devastating flooding in March last year.

Residents in a number of suburbs have been ordered to evacuate, but Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said people don’t need to wait to be told to leave.

“If you are feeling uncomfortable or unsure about your circumstances, and there is an opportunity for you to leave earlier, don’t necessarily wait for an evacuation order,” she said. “If you were safe in 2021 do not assume you will be safe tonight. This is a rapidly evolving situation and we could see areas impacted that we haven’t seen before.”

Emergency services said they conducted over 100 flood rescues and responded to over 3,000 requests for assistance in the past 24 hours. Evacuation centers have opened in several areas in western Sydney.

About 100 Australian Defense Force personnel were helping by putting up sandbags and knocking on doors to warn of flood threats.

The weather bureau’s hazards preparation and response manager Jane Golding said a coastal trough lingering since Friday deepened while an east coast low-pressure system formed off the Mid North Coast.

“That’s produced some extraordinary rainfall rates over the last 24 hours ... many locations have seen up to 200 mm and some close to 300 mm,” she said. The volume of rainfall is almost half of Sydney’s annual average.

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Boris Johnson has been urged to abandon his attempt to override the Northern Ireland element of the Brexit deal in a forceful intervention by the German and Irish governments. The UK prime minister is pushing ahead with new legislation that cancels parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, in an attempt to persuade the Democratic Unionist party to rejoin the power-sharing agreement at Stormont, which has been in limbo since the May local elections. The changes address customs, regulation, subsidy control and governance, issues which have enraged some unionists in Northern Ireland. In a joint statement on Sunday, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney and his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, warned there was “no legal or political justification” for the move. UK foreign secretary Liz Truss wrote in the Financial Times last week that the protocol was undermining the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended three decades of sectarian violence. Truss argued that it was essential to use legislation to “fix the specific problems” in the protocol — while maintaining other elements — in a way that was “necessary and legal”. But the EU has signalled that Britain could end up locked in a trade war with the bloc if it does not deviate from the plan to rip up the agreement. In their riposte, Baerbock and Coveney said the British government had agreed to the protocol two years ago after “long and hard negotiations”. Under its terms, Northern Ireland remains in the EU single market for goods but checks are conducted on shipments entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain. Since then the EU had already given ground by bringing forward proposals to simplify the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and changed its own laws to address concerns around the supply of medicines. Baerbock and Coveney argued in an Observer newspaper opinion piece that the British government had chosen not to engage in good faith with the proposals. “Instead of the path of partnership and dialogue, it has chosen unilateralism,” they wrote. “There is no legal or political justification for unilaterally breaking an international agreement entered into only two years ago.” The tabling of the new legislation would not fix the challenges and instead would only create a new set of uncertainties, they warned.

A readout of the EU General Affairs Council from June 23, seen by the Financial Times, suggests that Germany was among several countries arguing that the UK’s actions were “clear and undisputable breaches of its international obligations”. Although Germany called for the European Commission to “remain calm and adopt a gradual approach”, it also underlined the need to prepare for “all potential scenarios” and keep all options on the table.

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 Pressed by Supreme Court decisions diminishing rights that liberals hold dear and expanding those cherished by conservatives, the United States appears to be drifting apart into separate nations, with diametrically opposed social, environmental and health policies.

Call these the Disunited States.

It comes after a month's worth of rain hit the city in less than a day on Saturday - smashing a 120-year record - with NSW residents warned the bout of wet weather hitting the east coast is only going to get even worse.

Torrential rain, flash flooding, landslides, damaging winds and power outages are all threatening to devastate Sydney.

In the 24 hours to 9am Saturday, the Illawarra district of NSW was hit by its heaviest bout of July rainfall since 1904. Foxground recorded 215mm of rain, Albion Park 171mm and Kiama 163mm.

Residents in the Sydney and Illawarra regions were previously warned flash flooding is 'essentially guaranteed' with three months' worth of rain to fall in the next five days.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather alert for metropolitan Sydney, Illawarra and parts of the South Coast, Central Tablelands and Southern Tablelands on Saturday morning.

Three flood rescues have already been performed in NSW since Friday, with people along parts of the Hawkesbury River being warned they face a major flood risk. 

The most immediate breaking point is on abortion, as about half the country will soon limit or ban the procedure while the other half expands or reinforces access to reproductive rights. But the ideological fault lines extend far beyond that one topic, to climate change, gun control and L.G.B.T.Q. and voting rights.

On each of those issues, the country’s Northeast and West Coast are moving in the opposite direction from its midsection and Southeast — with a few exceptions, like the islands of liberalism in Illinois and Colorado, and New Hampshire’s streak of conservatism.

Even where public opinion is more mixed, like in Ohio, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas, the Republican grip on state legislatures has ensured that policies in those states conform with those of the reddest states in the union, rather than strike a middle ground.

 

The tearing at the seams has been accelerated by the six-vote conservative majority in the Supreme Court, which has embraced a muscular states-rights federalism. In the past 10 days the court has

“They’ve produced this Balkanized house divided, and we’re only beginning to see how bad that will be,” said David Blight, a Yale historian who specializes in the era of American history that led to the Civil War.

Historians have struggled to find a parallel moment, raising the 19th-century fracturing over slavery; the clashes between the executive branch and the Supreme Court in the New Deal era of the 1930s; the fierce battles over civil rights during Reconstruction and in the 1950s and early 1960s; and the rise of armed, violent groups like the Weather Underground in the late ’60s.

For some people, the divides have grown so deep and so personal that they have felt compelled to pick up and move from one America to the other.

Many conservatives have taken to social media to express thanks over leaving high-tax, highly regulated blue states for red states with smaller government and, now, laws prohibiting abortion.

Others have transited the American rift in the opposite direction.

“I did everything I could to put my mouth where my money was, to bridge the divide with my own actions,” said Howard Garrett, a Black, gay 29-year-old from Franklin, Tenn., who ran for alderman in recent years, organized the town’s first Juneteenth celebration and worked on L.G.B.T.Q. outreach to local schools, only to be greeted with harassment and death threats.

Mr. Garrett moved to Washington, D.C., last year. “People were just sick in their heart,” he said, “and that was something you can’t change.”

On abortion, history seems to be riffing on itself.

Both supporters and opponents of abortion rights see a parallel to the abolition of slavery.

As states like Illinois and Colorado vow to become “safe harbors” for women in surrounding states seeking to end their pregnancies, abortion rights advocates see an echo of past efforts by antislavery states in the North. But abortion opponents see themselves as emancipating the unborn, and often compare the Roe decision’s treatment of the fetus to the Dred Scott ruling in 1857 that denied Black people the rights of American citizenship.

Conservatives are not resting on their victories: The anti-abortion movement, long predicated on returning the issue of reproductive rights to elected representatives in the states, talks now about putting a national abortion ban before Congress.

Roger Severino, a leading social conservative and senior official in the Trump administration, invoked the struggle of Black Americans for equality, saying the 10 years that passed between the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision ending “separate but equal” segregation and Congress’s passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 mirrored the struggle ahead on abortion.

“I cannot see us living in two Americas where we have two classes of human beings in this country: some protected fully in law, some who are not protected at all,” said Mr. Severino, now the vice president for domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

On climate change, the court’s decision to limit federal regulatory powers has underscored the impasse in Congress over legislation expressly limiting emissions of climate-warming pollutants like carbon dioxide and methane.

“I’m strongly supportive of the E.P.A. having the power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants from fossil fuel,” said Katie Dykes, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the chairwoman of the East Coast initiative’s board of directors. “But R.G.G.I. has been in place since 2009 and has provided clear, predictable signals to the power sector and to the states in the alliance. It becomes only more relevant if we see federal authority curtailed.”

On guns, the District of Columbia and 11 states, including Delaware and Rhode Island just this week, have banned some weapons and accessories like high-capacity magazines in response to mass shootings across the country. Republican states, in contrast, have passed and continue to pass laws that allow for the carrying of concealed or unconcealed firearms with no permits necessary.

As conservative states move to bar gender transition therapies for people under 18, California’s Legislature is considering a bill that would void any subpoena seeking information about people traveling to the state for such care. But Alabama’s attorney general, invoking the Supreme Court’s reasoning in its abortion decision, said this week that federal courts must allow the state’s ban on gender-transition care to take effect.

Anne Caprara, the chief of staff to the Democratic governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, said abortion providers in the state used to serve a few hundred out-of-state women per week. Since the overturning of Roe a week ago, she said, it’s been “several thousand.”

“The governor is committed to Illinois being an oasis,” she said. “He isn’t shifting on that, but there’s no question that’s a burden.”

Gun rights laws like the protections for silencers in Texas “are edging back toward the idea of nullification, that states should be able to ignore federal law, an idea that grew directly out of slavery,” said Bethany Lacina, a University of Rochester political scientist who studies federalism in different countries. “But you can imagine a day where there’s a federal ban on abortion, and the governor of California says, ‘Eh, we’re just not going to do that.’ It’s all very double-edged weapons.”

Conservatives might see the coming years as the moment to pivot toward amassing more national power, if they can seize Congress in November and the White House in 2024. Anti-abortion activists have always had two arguments in favor of ending Roe v. Wade: a legal case that the Constitution does not include a right to end a pregnancy, and a moral case that abortion is murder.

Mr. Severino, again invoking segregation, said that until the legislative and executive branches of government stepped in with the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts in the 1960s, recalcitrant states failed to integrate their schools after the Supreme Court ordered them to in 1954.

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 speech celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China, Chinese President Xi Jinping strongly reaffirmed the territory’s autonomy under the promise of “One Country, Two Systems” but with one very strong caveat: Beijing has full jurisdiction and Hong Kong must respect that.

he two argued that a local licence issued by Turkey's RTUK media regulator would infringe on their independence and allow Ankara to censor their content.

Rights advocates said Turkey's decision underscores erosion to freedom of expression in the run up to next year's general election, the toughest of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's two-decade rule.

It also threatens to spark new tensions in Turkey's relations with two of its most important Western allies and trading partners.

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Citigroup is in talks with several local buyers over a potential sale of its operations in Russia, making it the latest major foreign bank to exit the country following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The US group is in negotiations with privately owned Russian companies including Expobank and insurance company Reso-Garantia over the fate of its consumer and commercial businesses, according to people familiar with the matter. Rosbank, Société Générale’s former Russian subsidiary, has also expressed interest in buying Citi’s operations, but its ability to complete any deal has been thrown into doubt after the UK sanctioned its new owner, oligarch Vladimir Potanin, this week. He remains unsanctioned by the US and EU, however. Potanin’s interest in Citi’s assets is a new development after he said previously that he was not interested in buying any more banks after acquiring a stake in fintech TCS from fellow Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov, who said he was forced into the sale by the Kremlin after criticising the war. Citi is also winding down its corporate banking balances and operations as quickly as it can, but is continuing to work with its multinational clients that are also exiting the country after western sanctions made it all but impossible to remain in Russia.

The broadcasters went dark hours after a NATO summit at which Erdogan won praise from US President Joe Biden for lifting his objections to Sweden and Finland joining the Western defence alliance.

The US State Department criticised the new rules when they first went into force in February, stressing that a "free media is essential to a robust democracy".

The new media regulation applies to foreign providers of Turkish audio and video content.

On Friday, both news portals were inaccessible in Turkey without the use of VPN technology that hides users' location.

“One Country, Two Systems is an unprecedented great initiative of historical significance,” Xi declared in a victory lap of a speech now that the opposition in the city has either been silenced or behind bars. “There is no reason to change such a good system, and it must be maintained for a long time.”

Xi’s words run counter to the view of many in the city who supported the now-silenced pro-democracy activists and Western politicians around the world who view Beijing’s increasing direct influence in the city as reneging on the agreement made between the United Kingdom and China that led to the handover on July 1, 1997.

Also marking the occasion, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a video statement on Twitter saying, "We made a promise to the territory and its people and we intend to keep it, doing all we can to hold China to its commitment”

 

"We simply cannot avoid the fact that for some time now, Beijing has been failing to comply with its obligations. It's a state of affairs that threatens both the rights and freedoms of Hong Kongers and the continued progress and prosperity of their home.”

 

PHOTO: People hold the Hong Kong and Chinese flags while singing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the city's handover from Britain to China, in Hong Kong on July 1, 2022. (Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken added, “it is now evident that Hong Kong and Beijing authorities no longer view democratic participation, fundamental freedoms, and an independent media” as a part of its promise.

In Xi’s view, the Chinese government is fulfilling its obligations in allowing the former British colony to choose its path and thrive economically, if not politically, over the past quarter century.

“Hong Kong will maintain the original capitalist system unchanged for a long time and enjoy a high degree of autonomy” Xi, who is on a two-day visit to the city, told a 1,300-strong gathering of Hong Kong’s political and business elite at t

American basketball star Brittney Griner appeared in a Moscow-area court for trial Friday, about 4 1/2 months after she was arrested on cannabis possession charges at an airport while traveling to play for a Russian team.

Griner was arrested in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. Police said she was carrying vape canisters with cannabis oil. The Phoenix Mercury center and two-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of large-scale transportation of drugs.

Fewer than 1% of defendants in Russian criminal cases are acquitted, and unlike in the U.S., acquittals can be overturned.

At a closed-door preliminary hearing Monday in the Moscow suburb of Khimki, Griner’s detention was extended for another six months, to Dec. 20.

Photos obtained by The Associated Press, including one of the few close-ups of Griner since her arrest on Feb. 17, showed the 31-year-old in handcuffs and looking straight ahead, unlike a previous court appearance where she kept her head down and covered with a hood.

She declined to answer questions from reporters in English as she was led through the courthouse, according to video shown in Russian media. Russian media later reported that Griner’s lawyers would not comment on how their client planned to plead.

The athlete’s detention and trial come at an extraordinarily low point in Moscow-Washington relations. Griner was arrested less than a week before Russia sent troops into Ukraine, which aggravated already high tensions between the two countries. The invasion led to sweeping sanctions imposed by the United States, and Russia denounced the U.S. for sending weapons to Ukraine.

Amid the tensions, Griner’s supporters have kept a low profile in hopes of a quiet resolution, until May, when the State Department reclassified her as wrongfully detained and shifted oversight of her case to its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs — effectively the U.S. government’s chief negotiator.

Griner’s wife, Cherelle, has urged President Joe Biden to secure her release, calling her “a political pawn.”

“It was good to see her in some of those images, but it’s tough. Every time’s a reminder that their teammate, their friend, is wrongfully imprisoned in another country,” Phoenix Mercury coach Vanessa Nygaard said Monday.

The coach hoped that Biden would “take the steps to ensure she comes home.”

Griner’s supporters have encouraged a prisoner swap like the one in April that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy.

Russian news media have repeatedly raised speculation that she could be swapped for Russian arms trader Viktor Bout, nicknamed “the Merchant of Death,” who is serving a 25-year sentence on conviction of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and providing aid to a terrorist organization.

Russia has agitated for Bout’s release for years. But the wide discrepancy between Griner’s case — which involves alleged possession of vape cartridges containing cannabis oil — and Bout’s global dealings in deadly weapons could make such a swap unpalatable to the U.S.

Others have suggested that she could be traded in tandem with Paul Whelan, a former Marine and security director serving a 16-year sentence on an espionage conviction that the United States has repeatedly described as a setup.

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 Prince Charles’ office has denied there was any wrongdoing in the heir of the British throne accepting bags full of cash as charity donations from a Qatari politician.

The Sunday Times reported that the 73-year-old was given a total of 3 million euros, or $3.2 million, by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar. The outlet alleged that the money was handed over to the British prince during private meetings between 2011 and 2015 — on one occasion in a suitcase and another in shopping bags from London’s Fortnum & Mason department store.

The newspaper also reported that the money was deposited into the accounts of the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Fund, which gives grants to other non-profit groups that support the royal’s causes and interests. It did not allege that anything illegal was done.

Charles’ office, Clarence House, said in a statement that the donations "were passed immediately to one of the prince’s charities who carried out the appropriate governance and have assured us that all the correct processes were followed."

PRINCE CHARLES TOLD BY UK LEADERS TO STOP MEDDLING IN POLITICS AMID IMMIGRATION COMMENT BACKLASH: REPORT

Prince Charles' office, Clarence House, said in a statement that the donations "were passed immediately to one of the prince’s charities who carried out the appropriate governance and have assured us that all the correct processes were followed." (Photo by Luke Dray/Getty Images)

His charitable fund also told the outlet it had verified "that the donor was a legitimate and verified counterparty… and our auditors signed off on the donation after a specific enquiry during the audit. There was no failure of governance."

Qatar’s government communications office did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment. Hamad has not publicly commented.

As Qatar’s prime minister between 2007 and 2013, Hamad oversaw the oil-rich state’s sovereign wealth fund, which has major property investments around the world, including London’s Shard skyscraper, Heathrow Airport and Harrods department store.

Charles, who is Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest son, faces the possibility of an investigation by The Charity Commission, known as the governing body of charities in Britain.

ATO allies will decide at a summit this week to increase the strength of their rapid reaction force nearly eightfold to 300,000 troops as part of their response to an “era of strategic competition," the military alliance's secretary-general said Monday.

The NATO response force (NRF) currently numbers around 40,000 soldiers which can deploy quickly when needed.

Coupled with other measures including the deployment of forces to defend specific allies, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the move is part of the “biggest overhaul of collective defense and deterrence since the Cold War."

Lasso, whose adversarial relationship with the national assembly has worsened during the protests, has also withdrawn security measures and announced subsidized fertilizers and debt forgiveness.

Indigenous groups led by organization Conaie said in a statement earlier on Monday that the price reduction to $2.45 a gallon for gasoline extra and $1.80 a gallon for diesel was not enough.

But in the afternoon the groups said they would attend a meeting with government officials set for 2pm local time (1900 GMT), even as backers marched in Quito in rejection of the new prices.

Lasso said on Twitter the measures he has announced, including the gas price cut, will cost about $600m.

People in the capital, Quito, awoke on Monday to some road blockades. Residents have complained of shortages of domestic gas and food. Other cities have also reported shortages of fuel and medical supplies for hospitals.

The public oil sector, private producers of flowers and dairy products, tourism and other businesses have lost about $500m, the government has said.

Conaie tallies five protester deaths, while the government says three civilians died during marches, two more were killed in accidents and two died in ambulances delayed by blockades.

Lawmakers are set to continue debate on Tuesday on an effort to remove Lasso from office, though it appears opposition groups do not have the necessary support for the measure to succeed.

“These troops will exercise together with home defense forces,” Stoltenberg said. “And they will become familiar with local terrain, facilities, and our new pre-positioned stocks. So that they can respond smoothly and swiftly to any emergency."

In response to the Kremlin’s decision to start the war, U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts agreed in February to send thousands of troops, backed by air and naval support, to protect allies near Russia and Ukraine. The 30-nation organization decided at the time to send parts of the NRF and elements of a quickly deployable spearhead unit to the alliance’s eastern flank, marking the first time the force had been used in a defense role

Stoltenberg made the remarks at a press conference ahead of a NATO summit this week in Madrid when the 30 allies are expected to also agree on further support to Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Stoltenberg said he expects allies to make clear they consider Russia “as the most significant and direct threat to our security." At the summit, allies will also decide to strengthen their battlegroups on NATO's eastern flanks, he said.

In NATO's new strategic concept, the alliance is also set to address for the first time the security challenges posed by China, Stoltenberg said. In Madrid, allies will discuss how to respond to the growing influence of Russia and China in their “southern neighborhood," he added.

Stoltenberg said allies will agree to deliver further military support to Ukraine when they convene in Spain, with NATO members set to adopt a “strengthened comprehensive assistance package,” including deliveries of secure communication and anti-drone systems.

Over the long term, Stoltenberg said allies aim to help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era armaments to modern NATO equipment. The world's seven leading economic powers underscored Monday their commitment to Ukraine for “as long as it takes.”

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 At least three people were killed Monday after an Amtrak train hit a dump truck and derailed in Missouri, officials said. It's not yet clear how many were injuraed, though at least two hospitals said they had received patients. 

Officials said Southwest Chief Train 4, which was carrying 275 passengers and 12 crew members from Los Angeles to Chicago, hit a truck near Mendon, Missouri, at approximately 12:43 p.m. local time. An official from the Missouri State Highway Patrol said the crossing was "uncontrolled" and had no lights or crossing rails, which is common in more rural areas. 

 Americans disapprove of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll conducted Friday and Saturday in the immediate wake of the ruling.

A 59% majority of US adults disapprove, with 41% approving. About half (52%) call the decision a step backward for America, with 31% calling it a step forward and 17% saying it's neither.

Among women, two-thirds (67%) disapprove of the ruling, with just 33% approving. A 56% majority of women say that the decision will make the lives of most American women worse.

 

 

Protests spread across the US after the Supreme Court overturns the constitutional right to abortion

A 58% majority of Americans say they'd favor a federal law making abortion legal nationwide, while 42% would oppose this. And 64% say they'd like abortion in their states to be legal in most or all cases.

Most Americans now say they believe it's at least somewhat likely that the Supreme Court will eventually end or limit same-sex marriage (57%) and access to birth control and contraception (55%). Only 33% say they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the Supreme Court, with 23% saying they have just some confidence and 44% that they have very little confidence in the Supreme Court.

The CBS News/YouGov poll surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,591 adults on June 24-25 after the Supreme Court decision was released. While this is a relatively short field period for a poll, the results provide an initial look at public reaction. The margin of sampling error for the poll is ±3.0 points.

Seven of the train's eight cars derailed, Missouri State Highway Patrol Corporal Justin Dunn said at a press conference.

SAN ANTONIO – Forty-six people were found dead in a tractor-trailer on the Southwest Side, and 16 have been transported to area hospitals, according to San Antonio police and fire officials.

“It’s tragic,” said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg. “They had families... and were likely trying to find a better life. It’s nothing short of a horrific human tragedy.”

Authorities said it was the largest mass casualty event they’ve seen in San Antonio.

“We hope that those responsible for putting these people through such inhumane conditions are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Nirenberg said.

 least 46 people were found dead inside of a semi-truck in San Antonio Monday, according to authorities, in a scene that Mayor Ron Nirenberg called a "horrific human tragedy."

Earlier on Monday night, city councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia referred to the victims as migrants, after she was briefed on the situation by the San Antonio police chief.

Authorities were alerted to the scene just before 6 p.m., when a worker in a nearby building heard a cry for help, San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus said at a news conference Monday night. The worker found a trailer with doors partially opened and saw a number of people deceased inside, McManus said.

Sixteen people -- 12 adults and four children -- have been taken to nearby medical facilities for further care, according to San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood.

Those who were found alive were hot to the touch and suffering from heat stroke and exhaustion, Hood said, and were conscious when transported for care. There was no sign of water in the refrigerated tractor trailer and no visible working air conditioning unit, he said.

High temperatures in the San Antonio area ranged from the high 90s to low 100s on Monday, according to the National Weather Service.

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Officials said they are hopeful that those transported for treatment will recover. Three of the migrants found were taken to Methodist Hospital Metropolitan and are in stable condition, according to a spokesperson for Methodist Healthcare.

Three people are in police custody, McManus said, but added it's unclear if they are connected to the situation.

The 60 firefighters that were on scene are being put through a critical incident stress debriefing, Hood said.

"We're not supposed to open up a truck and see stacks of bodies in there. None of us come to work imagining that," the fire chief said.

"It's tragic," Mayor Nirenberg said Monday. "There are, that we know of, 46 individuals who are no longer with us, who had families, who were likely trying to find a better life. And we have 16 folks who are fighting for their lives in the hospital."

The US Department of Homeland Security's investigation unit was alerted by San Antonio police to "an alleged human smuggling event" and is leading the investigation, a spokesperson from Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Monday.

Russian airstrike struck a bustling shopping mall in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine on Monday, setting the building ablaze and prompting concerns of mass casualties.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said after the strike that up to 1,000 people were in the mall before the air raid was announced.

"Fortunately, as far as we know, at that time, many people managed to get out, they managed to get out, but there were still people inside -- workers and some visitors," he said.

 

 

At least 15 people were killed, according to a Telegram post from Dmytro Lunin, the head of the Poltava region military administration, who said earlier that the death toll could rise. At least 58 people were injured, Ukraine's State Emergency Services said.

Zelensky said in his nightly video address Monday that the rescue operation was ongoing and that "we must be aware that the losses can be significant."

Video from the scene showed heavy smoke billowing from the building, which was engulfed by fire. The mall measures about one hectare -- roughly the size of two football fields -- and the strike occurred around 4 p.m. local time, Solohub said.

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"We don't know how many more people might be under the rubble," said Volodymyr Solohub, a regional official in the Poltava Oblast local administration.

 

 

Zelensky called the strike "one of the most defiant terrorist attacks in European history," in his evening video address.

"A peaceful city, an ordinary shopping mall with women inside, children, ordinary civilians inside."

"Only totally insane terrorists, who should have no place on earth, can strike missiles at such an object. And this is not an off-target missile strike, this is a calculated Russian strike -- exactly at this shopping mall," he said.

The attack targeted a site in central Ukraine far away from the epicenter of Russia's war, which has recently been focused in the east of the country.

 

Footage showed fire and smoke pouring from the building.

 

It came as G7 leaders met at a summit in Germany that was mostly geared toward coordinating the Western response to Russia's invasion.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said from that meeting that the attack showed the "depths of cruelty and barbarism" of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the UK's PA news agency reported.

"This appalling attack has shown once again the depths of cruelty and barbarism to which the Russian leader will sink," Johnson said, according to PA.

In a tweet Monday, US President Joe Biden condemned the attack, saying, "Russia's attack on civilians at a shopping mall is cruel. We stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people."

"As demonstrated at the G7 Summit, the U.S. along with our allies and partners will continue to hold Russia accountable for such atrocities and support Ukraine's defense," Biden added.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the attack an "abomination," in a tweet that included video of the burning shopping mall. "The Russian people have to see the truth," he said.

And Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba, said on Twitter: "Russia is a disgrace to humanity and it must face consequences. The response should be more heavy arms for Ukraine, more sanctions on Russia, and more businesses leaving Russia."

Those issues were on the table at the summit in Germany. The G7 vowed to continue providing support for Ukraine "for as long as it takes" in a joint statement, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told CNN on Monday that she would not "bet on Russia" winning the war.

RAZA BABAU KOTHA ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF DR. ANTHONY DHAKA 2022

 VANCOUVER, BC, June 27, 2022 /CNW/ - Kadestone Capital Corp. ("Kadestone" or the "Company") (TSX-V: KDSX) (OTCB: KDCCF), a vertically integrated property company, is pleased to announce that the board of directors (the "Board") has appointed Dr. Anthony Holler as Chair of Board  following the  Company's annual general meeting of shareholders of the Company (the "Shareholders") held on June 24, 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia (the "Meeting").

Dr. Holler was CEO of ID Biomedical from 1999 until 2005 when the company was sold to GlaxoSmithKline for $1.7 billion. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Perimeter Medical Imaging AI Inc. and CEO and Chairman of the Board for Sunniva Inc. Previously, Dr.  Holler was Chairman of the Board of Directors of CRH Medical from December 2005 to March 2020. Dr. Holler was also Chairman of Corriente Resources Inc., which sold for approximately $700 million to CRCC-Tongguan Investment Co. in 2010. Before his involvement in public markets, Dr. Holler served as an Emergency Physician at University Hospital at the University of British Columbia. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree and a Medical Degree from the University of British Columbia.

 

At the Meeting, the Shareholders elected to the Board, by ordinary resolution, Brent Billey, David Negrin, Norm Mayr, Jacqueline Tucker and Dr. Anthony Holler, to serve in office until the next annual meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are duly elected or appointed.

In addition, at the Meeting, the Shareholders approved: (i) the re-appointment of Davidson & Company LLP as auditors of the Company; and (ii) the Company's amended and restated stock option plan.

About Kadestone

Kadestone was established to pursue the investment in, development, acquisition, and management of residential and commercial income producing properties and procurement and sale of building materials within major urban centres and high-growth, emerging markets in Canada. The Company operates five complimentary business lines spanning building materials procurement and supply, property development and construction, construction finance, asset ownership, and property management. These synergistic business lines have solidified Kades

AGerman court will give its verdict on Tuesday in the trial of a 101-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard, the oldest person so far to be charged with complicity in war crimes during the Holocaust.

© Tobias SchwarzJosef Schuetz is accused of involvement in the murders of 3,518 prisoners at the Sachsenhausen camp

Josef Schuetz is accused of involvement in the murders of 3,518 prisoners at the Sachsenhausen camp in Oranienburg, north of Berlin, between 1942 and 1945.

The pensioner, who now lives in Brandenburg state, has pleaded innocent, saying he did "absolutely nothing" and was not aware of the gruesome crimes being carried out at the camp.

"I don't know why I am here," he said at the close of his trial on Monday.

But prosecutors say he "knowingly and willingly" participated in the crimes as a guard at the camp and are seeking to punish him with five years behind bars. 

More than 200,000 people including Jews, Roma, regime opponents and gay people were detained at the Sachsenhausen camp between 1936 and 1945.

Tens of thousands of inmates died from forced labour, murder, medical experiments, hunger or disease before the camp was liberated by Soviet troops, according to the Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum. 

The allegations against Schuetz include aiding and abetting the "execution by firing squad of Soviet prisoners of war in 1942" and the murder of prisoners "using the poisonous gas Zyklon B".

He was 21 years old at the time.

A fire official said 16 people including four children had also been taken to hospital.

The survivors were "hot to the touch" and suffering from heat stroke and heat exhaustion.

San Antonio, which is 250km (150 miles) from the US-Mexican border, is a major transit route for people smugglers.

Human traffickers often use lorries to transport undocumented migrants after meeting them in remote areas once they have managed to cross into the United States.

"They had families...and were likely trying to find a better life," San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said. "It's nothing short of a horrific, human tragedy."

 

Emergency responders initially arrived at the scene at about 18:00 local time (23:00 GMT) after responding to reports of a dead body, San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood told reporters.

"We're not supposed to open up a truck and see stacks of bodies in there. None of us come to work imagining that," he said.

He added that the vehicle, which had been abandoned by its driver, had no working air conditioning and there was no drinking water inside it.

Mexico's Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said that two Guatemalans were among those taken to hospital. The nationalities of the other victims was not immediately clear.

Three people are being held in custody and the investigation has been handed over to federal agents.

A former SS guard, Bruno Dey, was found guilty at the age of 93 in 2020 and was given a two-year suspended sentence.

Separately in the northern German town of Itzehoe, a 96-year-old former secretary in a Nazi death camp is on trial for complicity in murder.

She dramatically fled before the start of her trial, but was caught several hours later.

While some have questioned the wisdom of chasing convictions related to Nazi crimes so long after the events, Guillaume Mouralis, a research professor at France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), said such trials send an important signal.

"It is a question of reaffirming the political and moral responsibility of individuals in an authoritarian context (and in a criminal regime) at a time when the neo-fascist far right is strengthening everywhere in Europe," he told AFP.

But as the group forge ahead week-long 'mass disruptions' to traffic, Australian Lawyers Alliance national criminal justice spokesman Greg Barns SC has warned the sanctions will not curb protest activity.

'People who are engaging in protest generally are happy to take the risk of being jailed or fined large sums of money because they're motivated by the cause,' he told ABC News.

'You've got to ask the question: 'Why do you pass this legislation? Is it going to have a deterrent effect?' And the evidence seems to be that it won't have a deterrent effect.'

Ten people were arrested during the 'unauthorised protests' on Monday, including one woman who chained herself to a car steering wheel with a bicycle lock in North Sydney.

Another 12 arrests were made on Tuesday as Blockade Australia launched a second march through the CBD to Hyde Park.

Police have said they will use the new laws to prosecute those charged and have vowed to be out in force through to July 2 to stamp out planned protest activity.

COVID UPDATE USA AND INDIA Americans captured by Russian forces FIREOJ KAKA NATORE

 Russia targeted the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with a series of missile attacks Sunday, as leaders of the G7 nations gather in Germany for the first day of their annual summit.

The chief of Ukraine's national police force, Ihor Klymenko, said one person died and five were wounded in a Russian missile strike that hit a residential apartment block in Kyiv.

The injured included a 7-year-old girl, he said. Her mother, a 35-year-old woman named Katerina, was rescued from the rubble and put into an ambulance. She is a citizen of Russia, but had lived in Kyiv for a long time.

The man, whom police have described as a radicalised Islamist with a history of mental illness, is accused of killing two and injuring 21 early on Saturday, when Oslo was due to hold its Pride parade.

© Reuters/NTB Memorial service after the shooting in OsloSpeaking at a special service held at Oslo's cathedral, Stoere said the attack may have put an end to the official Pride parade, which was called off after the attack, but it did not stop the fight "against discrimination, prejudices and hate".

The premier, dressed in black, talked about the thousands of people that spontaneously demonstrated on Saturday in the streets of Oslo, waving rainbow flags and laying flowers at the crime scene to honour the victims.

© Reuters/NTB Memorial service after the shooting in Oslo"During the day, the city was full of people who wanted to speak out, about sorrow and anger, but also about support and solidarity and the will to continue on fighting, for the right of every individual to live a free life, a safe life," he said.

© Reuters/NTB Shooting in Oslo"These misdeeds remind us of this. This fight is not over. It is not safe from dangers. But we are going to win it, together," he told the audience - which included mourners, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, ministers and Church of Norway leaders - in the cathedral which was decorated with rainbow flags.

Authorities have said they had been aware of the suspect since 2015 and that he had been part of a network of Islamist extremists in Norway.

The suspect's lawyer, John Christian Elden, was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.

 

A CNN team on the ground spoke to the injured girl's grandmother, Natalia Nikitina, who found out about the attack online and rushed to the apartment block, where she cried as she watched teams trying to rescue her daughter-in-law.

"There is nothing worse than losing loved ones. Why do we deserve this?" she said. A huge plume of smoke continued to billow from the building two hours after the strike, while nearly every window was blown out on the top floor, and the ground was covered in debris and twisted metal.

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said "strategic bombers" were used to hit the capital, with "four to six missiles" launched. He added that on Saturday, Russia had used Tu22M3 long-range bombers from the airspace of Belarus for the first time in a Ukrainian air strike.

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said on Telegram there had been several explosions in the city's Shevchenkivskyi district, and that search and rescue operations were launched after a fire broke out when a residential building was hit by a rocket.

 

 

 

Rescue workers evacuate a person from a residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 26, 2022.

"There are people are trapped under the rubble. Some residents have been evacuated, with two victims hospitalized. Rescuers are continuing their work," he said.

Speaking to CNN onsite, Klitschko said Russia's war on Ukraine was "senseless" and thousands of civilians had died, and added, "We have to do everything to stop this war."

The Ukrainian State Emergency Service said the fire was caused by "enemy shelling" and was over an area of 300 square meters, in "a 9-storey residential building with partial destruction of the 7th, 9th and 9th floors."

The same neighborhood was hit by a missile strike in early May, and was also targeted in March.

Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs, said on Ukrainian television that there are "a number of military infrastructure facilities located in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the Ukrainian capital. This is the reason why the Russians are shelling this district."

US President Joe Biden called Sunday's attack "more of [Russian] barbarism." He declined to respond when asked whether the strikes were a deliberate provocation during the G7 summit.

Russian offensive continues in eastern Ukraine

After the key city of Severodonetsk was confirmed by Ukraine to be "completely under Russian occupation" on Saturday, the country's eastern Luhansk region is now almost entirely under Russian control. However, Ukrainian forces continue to defend the neighboring city of Lysychansk, which is coming under growing Russian artillery and rocket attacks.

 

The fight for Sloviansk may be 'the next pivotal battle' of Russia's war in Ukraine

On Sunday, the head of the neighboring Donetsk region's military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said Russian forces were gathering for fresh assaults in the region, nearly half of which is under Ukrainian control.

"We are now witnessing the accumulation of manpower, heavy armored vehicles and artillery in the direction of Sloviansk," Kyrylenko said on Ukrainian television.

"The enemy is using its well-known tactics, trying to move closer to our line of defense in order to fire artillery at the cities. Enemy artillery is already reaching certain parts of Sloviansk. This is another confirmation that people should evacuate."

Throughout the offensive in the east, Russian forces have used intense artillery and rocket bombardment ahead of trying to take ground. They are attacking areas of Donetsk from three directions.

Kyrylenko said there had been a missile strike and rocket attacks on Kurakhove, a town on the southern front line in Donetsk that has been a target of Russian attacks for more than two months. Avdiivka had also been hit by rockets, he said.

The three top advisers to President Joe Biden arrived 13 minutes late for a meeting with the caucus on, according to the invitation sent to members, "messaging on the economy." The presentation and question-and-answer period that followed only served to exacerbate their frustration.

"Give us a plan or give us someone to blame," one House Democrat, describing the group's reaction to the White House's mid-June presentation. "They've been vacillating somewhere in between and that's not helpful to any of us."

 

 

It's a view -- and readout of the tone of briefing -- White House officials strongly dispute, noting Biden has laid out a plan and the oft-used "Putin's price hike" that reflects the direct correlation between Russia's invasion of Ukraine and energy price spikes. Speaker Nancy Pelosi later told reporters she was "very pleased and honored by their presentation." But the frustration that briefly spilled out during the briefing in the basement of the US Capitol encapsulates the Gordian knot Biden and his top advisers currently confront just five months before the midterm elections.

CNN spoke to more than a dozen senior administration officials, lawmakers and congressional aides over the course of several weeks as the White House has grappled with a convergence of factors that has come to consume Biden's second year in office. It's not the first time Biden's economic team as grappled with unexpected developments that one senior White House official categorized as "uncertainties that were very much unknown," and they point to a record of steady, if in their view underappreciated, success in confronting those challenges each step of the way.

"Over the last 18 months, as we have confronted a range of unanticipated global challenges -- from Covid variants to Putin's war -- the President's economic strategy has helped drive strong, shared growth and position the US to confront economic challenges from a position of economic strength," National Economic Council Director Brian Deese told CNN. "Throughout, the President has directed his team to approach each challenge with urgency, creativity, and focus, using every tool we can to resolve economic disruptions and mitigate their impact."

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But for an administration that ended last year forecasting a leveling off of 40-year high inflation and eager to tout a historically rapid recovery from the pandemic-driven economic crisis, there is a level of frustration that comes with an acutely perilous moment. Asked by CNN about progress on a seemingly intractable challenge, another senior White House official responded flatly: "Which one?"

 

 

America is on edge, and that's bad news for the White House

Instead of managing an economy in the midst of a natural rotation away from recovery and into a stable period of growth, economic officials are analyzing and modeling worst-case scenarios like what the shock of gas prices hitting $200 per barrel may mean for the economy.

Soaring prices, teetering poll numbers and congressional majorities that appear to be on the brink have created no shortage of reasons for unease. Gas prices are hovering at or around $5 per gallon, plastered on signs and billboards across the country as a symbolic daily reminder of the reality -- one in which White House officials are extremely aware -- that the country's view of the economy is growing darker and taking Biden's political future with it.

"You don't have to be a very sophisticated person to know how lines of presidential approval and gas prices go historically in the United States," a senior White House official told CNN.

A CNN Poll of Polls average of ratings for Biden's handling of the presidency finds that 39% of Americans approve of the job he's doing. His numbers on the economy, gas prices and inflation specifically are even worse in recent polls.

But the last two days have provided a clear public window into a moment that has driven increasingly urgent deliberations and debates inside the White House.

Biden, after months of weighing the idea, threw his support behind a federal gas tax holiday. A day later, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and senior White House advisers held a high-profile emergency meeting with oil and gas executives.

It was a period that attempted to demonstrate proactive administration action at a moment when White House officials are grappling with a challenge that is as devoid of clear-cut federal policy solutions as it is politically toxic.

"There's no silver bullet here," a senior White House official said of the broad effort inside the West Wing. "Yes, it would be great if Russia could withdraw from Ukraine and global energy supplies went back to normal."

And no, the official acknowledged, nobody in the administration is expecting that any time soon.

Biden and his administration are confronting a series of challenges that are straining the White House's ability to convince the public they're able to keep the country on the right track. The first major land war in Europe in 80 years has sent energy prices soaring. A global economy still emerging from a once-in-a-century pandemic has continued to rattle the supply chain. And, yes, a major and sustained surge in US consumer spending has continued to create pressures.

Taken together, those crises represent overarching problem that simply can't be resolved by the federal government in the short term.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi officially received Al-Kadhimi, who was slated to also meet with other officials in Tehran, according to the report. He was the first foreign leader to visit Iran after Raisi took power in August.

Al-Kadhimi’s office said Saturday he arrived in the Saudi city of Jiddah for an official visit to meet with Saudi officials. It was his second visit to Saudi Arabia since he took the post of prime minister in May 2020.

Iran, the largest Shiite Muslim country in the world, and Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties in 2016 after Saudi Arabia executed prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Angry Iranians protesting the execution stormed two Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran, fueling years of animosity between the nations.