Here is a round-up of the latest news from across the nation and around the world:
Possible Ukraine Breakthrough: A Turkish diplomat said this morning after meeting with Russia”™s foreign minister that he thinks the Russians would be willing to negotiate setting up a shipping lane so that Ukraine can resume exporting at least some of its supplies of grain. The Russians have been blocking Ukraine from making grain exports and have stolen some of the grain supplies and been selling the grain itself. Russia has said its blockade of Ukrainian grain exports was because of economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the west.
German Second Thoughts on Coal: Germany, which gets natural gas from Russia, says it will not completely close down coal-fired electric generating plants but will keep them ready to be turned on again should the Russians cut off natural gas supplies to Germany as retaliation for economic sanctions. Germany has been dismantling its older coal-fired electric plants.
Iranian Train Accident: A passenger train traveling through eastern Iran struck a piece of construction equipment and derailed. The accident killed 21 people and injured 47 more according to Iranian officials.
Hung Jury for Trump Backer: The federal court trial in New York of a Trump supporter from Colorado, Timothy Shea, on charges that he stole money that had been contributed to help pay for Trump”™s border wall between the U.S. and Mexico ended yesterday in a hung jury. A note the jury sent to U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres last week revealed that one juror had been blocking unanimous agreement and was claiming that the trial was a government witch hunt.
Amazon’s New Brand Protection Report: Amazon today released its second Brand Protection Report, which provides details of what Amazon does to ensure the authenticity of merchandize sold through its site and what it does to fight bad actors so that customers can shop with confidence. Amazon says it stopped more than 2.5 million attempts to create fraudulent selling accounts during 2021. This is down from more than 6 million attempts the prior year, Amazon identified, seized, and disposed of more than 3 million pieces of counterfeit merchandise.
Thune and Grassley Win Primaries: South Dakota Senator John Thune won yesterday’s Republican primary so he can run for another term in November. Two right-wingers challenged him after Donald Trump came out against Thune for having called Trump”™s claim that the election was stolen from him a lie. Senator Chuck Grassley won the Republican primary in Iowa and can now run for another term. Grassley is 88 years old and would be running for an eighth term in the Senate.
Photo: Kristin Wolff / Flickr Creative Commons
