5 things to know for June 21: Heat wave, Supreme Court, Middle East, TikTok ban, Southwest Airlines
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Former President Donald Trump will get the final word at the CNN debate next week after a coin flip determined the podium placement and the order of closing statements. Remember to mark your calendars for the historic Biden-Trump showdown set for Thursday at 9 p.m. ET. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. Dangerously hot temperatures are scorching the US, the result of a record-breaking heat wave that is shifting to New York and the I-95 corridor. More than 100 million Americans are under heat advisories, watches and warnings through the weekend across the Northeast and Southwest. Widespread upper 90s and even triple digits will be possible around Washington, DC. If the nation’s capital reaches the 100-degree mark, it will be the first time since August 2016. Scientists have warned that heat waves will become more frequent and severe as the climate crisis intensifies. Nighttime temperatures are also becoming unbearable in some of the most densely populated areas of the world where many communities lack access to air conditioning. The Supreme Court is turning toward the final, frenzied weeks of its term, readying potential blockbuster decisions on abortion, guns and former President Donald Trump’s claims of absolute immunity. The court’s most closely watched dispute this year is a case questioning whether Trump may claim immunity from federal election subversion charges. Trump’s team says there should be a distinction between official acts by Trump pursuant to his presidential duties and his private conduct. In another closely watched case, the justices will decide what happens when pregnant women show up to the hospital with medical emergencies in states that have strict bans on abortion. The Supreme Court’s decisions are expected by the end of the month. Israel’s top military spokesman has said Hamas cannot be destroyed, casting doubt about whether the government’s war aim of defeating the militant group can be achieved. The comments drew a sharp rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and showed the deepening rift between the Israeli government and its military. Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure from members of his government and Israel’s allies, including the US, to devise a strategy for the post-war governance of Gaza after Israel’s devastating bombardment in the region. The death toll in Gaza has surpassed 35,000 since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, according to the health ministry in the besieged enclave. TikTok ramped up its attacks on the Biden administration Thursday over a law that could ban the popular app from the United States, arguing in a court filing that US TikTok users could be forced to live on an “island” of content disconnected from the rest of the world if the platform is forced to find a new owner. Under what is now US law, TikTok is forced to find a new owner by January 2025 or be banned from the US entirely. TikTok has insisted it is not possible for its Chinese parent ByteDance to divest from the app — “not possible technologically, commercially, or legally” — and not by the deadline laid out by President Biden. The Justice Department declined to comment
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The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings.
As Chad Curry busily ferries his teenage children through the streets of their Chicago neighborhood of West Ridge, he eyes passing vehicles with a skepticism he didn’t have just a few months ago.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?
The Army gynecologist described in a recent lawsuit as a “predator in uniform” is now being held in the Bell County Jail in Texas, “after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” according to an Army spokesperson.
Brian Walshe on Thursday came face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe’s murder trial.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a congressional map that will boost President Donald Trump’s effort to keep Republicans in control of Congress, blocking a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race.
The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.