Weekend Papers Summary
NEW YORK TIMES
-With the withdrawal from Sievierodonetsk, the fighting shifts to neighboring Lysychansk, the last city in the Luhansk region still under Ukrainian control.
-Ukrainian soldiers fired an advanced French CAESAR self-propelled howitzer at a Russian target in the Donetsk region on Friday.
-After weeks of bloody street fighting and months of withering artillery fire, Ukrainian forces will withdraw from Sievierodonetsk, a city that President Volodymyr Zelensky once said would determine the “fate” of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. The retreat from the devastated industrial city on the east bank of the Siversky Donets River was confirmed Friday by Serhiy Haidai, the head of the military administration in Luhansk. It represents the most significant loss for the Ukrainian military since Russian forces seized Mariupol a month ago after a similarly brutal campaign of heavy shelling and street fighting left that southern port in ruins.
-Mariupol is now suffering deeply under Russian rule, according to the city’s mayor. Catch up on Ukraine news.
-Western countries are facing growing economic pain even as sanctions are showing little impact on Russia.
-A year ago, Champlain Towers South collapsed in Surfside, Fla. The lives of those who lost loved ones and homes have never been the same.
-Heat waves around the world push people and nations ‘to the edge’. China, America, Europe and India have all been stricken recently, and scientists are starting to understand why far-flung, simultaneous events are occurring.
-FBI Raids Orlando Museum and Removes Basquiat Paintings
All 25 works in the museum’s Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition were seized by the FBI An affidavit called into question their authenticity. The authenticity of some of the works in the museum’s exhibit has been questioned.
-Beginning in July, Broadway will no longer require audiences to mask up. Actors and theater workers aren’t loving the idea, our columnist writes.
-Before taking newly eligible children to get vaccinated, make sure to check the pharmacy’s age policy.
-2 Killed and at least 19 wounded in shooting in Norway’s capital. The shooting happened near a popular gay club in downtown Oslo, on the weekend when the city is set to host its Pride parade.
-With Swagger, State Democrats Vie for Front of Presidential Primary Line
After Iowa’s disastrous 2020 caucuses, Democratic officials are weighing big changes for 2024. States, angling for early attention, are waxing poetic.
-Does Your Nose Help Pick Your Friends? In a small study, researchers in an olfaction lab found that people who had an instant personal connection also had similarities in their body odors.
THE FINANCIAL TIMES
-The battle over abortion rights in the US shifted rapidly to Congress and the midterm elections after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade and gutted the decades-old constitutional protection for women seeking to end a pregnancy.
-Liz Cheney decided it was time to speak directly to Donald Trump’s supporters this week. Concluding her remarks at the fifth public hearing of the Congressional committee to investigate the attack on the US Capitol last year, the Wyoming Republican and daughter of a former vice-president did not mince her words.
-Just minutes after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade, Eric Schmitt, the attorney-general of Missouri, proclaimed that his state would be the first to ban abortion after the landmark ruling on Friday.
In reality, such bans automatically took effect in multiple states after the ruling, thanks to laws previously passed by their state legislatures that were meant to come into effect if Roe were ever knocked down.
-Xi Jinping will make his first trip outside of the Chinese mainland since the start of the pandemic more than two years ago to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Hong Kong chief executive John Lee. The Chinese president will be at Lee’s side when the former security minister and policeman takes over the helm of the Hong Kong government from Carrie Lam on July 1.
-Ukraine has ordered its troops to withdraw from the embattled city of Severodonetsk, the main focus of Russia’s assault in the east of the country, after withstanding months of relentless attack and artillery bombardment.
-The US Congress has approved legislation that would impose new restrictions on gun ownership in America, the result of an unexpected bipartisan compromise that was forged after mass shootings in Texas and New York last month.
-Surfing on powerful anti-Macron feelings, the opposition parties tapped into simmering discontent about the rising cost of living and exposed deep divisions between cities and rural areas and between society’s winners and losers that have often been expressed in the street — such as in the gilets jaunes protests of 2018.
-Hundreds of Russians estimated to have relocated to Latin America in recent months, as a combination of relaxed entry rules and an ambivalence towards western sanctions makes it an increasingly attractive destination.
-The US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Japan have launched a fresh initiative to help Pacific Island nations, in an effort to increase their presence in a maritime region that is increasingly targeted by China.
Washington and its allies created “Partners in Blue Pacific” on Friday after several days of talks with Pacific Island countries. The scheme aims to help small island nations — such as Fiji, Palau, Samoa and the Marshall Islands — tackle issues from climate change to illegal fishing, but it also marks a stepped-up effort to counter Chinese initiatives.
-A US congressional committee probing last year’s “meme stock” market frenzy has questioned whether the testimony of Robinhood’s chief executive describing the retail brokerage’s liquidity position was “at odds” with the investigation’s findings.
-The virus that is fueling a surge in monkey pox cases globally may be mutating faster than anticipated as it spreads from person to person, a study has said, as authorities move to widen eligibility for vaccines to more groups seen to be at risk.
-The risks of the US and Europe sliding into recession have picked up sharply, economists have warned ahead of the G7 summit that begins this weekend in Bavaria. Economists on both sides of the Atlantic told the Financial Times they had become increasingly pessimistic following the Federal Reserve’s decision to go big on rate rises to counter soaring inflation, and on mounting concerns over Europe’s gas supply in the run-up to winter.
NY POST
-At least two dozen people were arrested after thousands of protesters took to the streets in Manhattan and across the country after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v Wade decision that protected women’s rights to abortion for nearly 50 years.
-Some liberals are blaming the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg after the court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade case that federally protected a woman’s right to an abortion on Friday. Ginsburg notoriously decided to not retire during the Obama administration when she could have been replaced with a liberal justice, only to die at the age of 87 in September 2020 during the Trump administration.
-Outgoing Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg slammed the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision Friday to overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion at the federal level — calling it a “huge setback” for the United States.
-Gas prices could climb well above their current near-record levels to “apocalyptic” heights if hurricane season results in significant disruptions for US oil refiners, an industry expert warned Friday. The national average gas price was hovering at roughly $4.93 as of Friday or about nine cents lower than its all-time high reached on June 14. Oil prices have also ticked slightly lower, holding at about $107 per barrel after trading near $120 earlier in the month.