Summer begins: Tropical Storm Alberto has come ashore in South Texas, leaving three people dead. A storm urge is expected to cause heavy flooding today in Corpus Christi. The heat wave continues today in the Midwest and Northeast, as summer officially begins. At least two deaths have been reported in the New Mexico wildfires that have destroyed about 1,000 buildings so far and forced thousands to flee their homes.
Hezbollah threat: The leader of the terrorist group Hezbollah, Nassan Nasrallah, threatens that if Israel declares war on Hezbollah, Hezbollah will attack the island of Cyprus, which is in the Mediterranean about 125 miles from Lebanon, where Hezbollah is headquartered. Military units from Cyprus and the Israeli military in the past have held joint exercises. The Cyprus government says it is in no way involved in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Putin in Vietnam: After his two-day visit to North Korea, Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Vietnam. He is scheduled to be there for two days. A spokesperson at the U.S Embassy in Hanoi said no country should host Putin and give him a platform to justify his aggression and violations of human rights. Putin said a Russian priority is strengthening its relationship with the communist government of Vietnam.
South Korea reacts: South Korea said today that the mutual defense pact signed by Russian President Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jung Un has led it to consider sending military supplies to Ukraine to help it in its fight against the Russian invasion. South Korea said the Russian-North Korean agreement is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and poses a threat to South Korea.
Ten Commandments: Louisiana’s Republican Governor Jeff Landry has signed into law legislation passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in every classroom in every public school in the state. The law also requires the posting in state-funded colleges. The law specifies that the Ten Commandments must be poster-sized, at least 11 by 14 inches, and printed in a large easily readable type font. The American Civil Liberties Union says it will file a lawsuit claiming the law is unconstitutional because the Louisiana government is imposing religion on the state’s citizens.
Unemployment insurance claims: According to figures released this morning by the U.S. Department of Labor, in the week ending June 15 new unemployment insurance claims dropped by 5,000 from the previous week and stood at 238,000. The four-week moving average of unemployment insurance claims was 243,000. For the week ending June 8, the insured unemployment rate was 1.2%, unchanged from the previous week. A year ago the rate was 1.1%. The unemployment rate, which is different from the rate of claims filed to collect unemployment insurance, was 4% in May.
