The Wall Street Journal

"Supreme Court draft opinion suggests it will allow emergency abortions."

Views expressed in this U.S., World, and Geopolitical News update are those of the reporters and correspondents.  Accessed on 26 June 2024, 2350 UTC.

Content and source: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQVxHlwDcRRWgNHVpRPcjvwPHxD/The Wall Street Journal:  What's News.

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Russ Roberts (https://trendsingeopolitics.blogspot.com).

Good afternoon. Here’s what you should know today, June 26:

$100 on red 12, er, the Fed’s target interest rate President Biden pardons military service members dismissed for their sexual orientation A St. Louis suburb relishes its world-famous pickle jar

By Zlati Meyer

Thanks for reading What’s News! Look for the 🔐 to enjoy a free article on us—and share the link with a friend (or forward the whole newsletter!).

What to Watch

Officers place barriers between antiabortion and abortion-rights demonstrators outside the Supreme Court. PHOTO: MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

1. The Supreme Court appears ready to let emergency abortions be performed in Idaho.

That’s according to a draft version of a decision that was accidentally posted on its website (🔐 read for free) and then quickly removed. The draft opinion showed the court voting 6-3 to dismiss the state’s appeal of a lower court order permitting emergency abortions under federal law governing hospitals that accept Medicare, according to Bloomberg News, which discovered the posting. The Supreme Court issued a statement saying that no decision was final. A draft version of the high court’s 2022 decision that overruled Roe v. Wade, rescinding women’s constitutional right to abortion, was leaked to Politico. Separately today, the court rejected a GOP-led suit claiming the federal government censored social media. It also tossed an Indiana mayor’s bribery conviction, raising the bar for public-corruption prosecutions.

2. Evan Gershkovich appeared in a Russian court to face a false accusation of espionage in a secret trial.

The WSJ reporter has been imprisoned since March 2023, when he was arrested during a reporting assignment. Gershkovich, WSJ and the U.S. government vehemently deny the accusations against him. The U.S. has designated him as “wrongfully detained” and called for his immediate release. A senior Kremlin official again said that Moscow was open to the possibility of a prisoner-swap deal involving Gershkovich.

3. President Biden wants to be tough with Russia and Iran—as well as stabilize gas prices ahead of the November election.

That has led to softer-than-expected sanctions on major oil producers, according to diplomats, ex-government officials and energy-industry players whom current officials briefed. The lack of action against oil-trading networks ferrying Russian and Iranian oil, including one currently under investigation, frustrates some Treasury Department staffers, some sources said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is working to maintain support at home and in Europe as the war with Russia continues. And in the Middle East, U.S. arms shipments to Israel have slowed, though the two countries disagree about why. NATO’s New Chief Is a Veteran of Europe’s Fights With Trump (Read) Britain’s Radical Plan to Tackle the Migrant Crisis Turns Into a Cautionary Tale (Read)

4. A trading platform is doubling down on betting by launching contracts that allow customers to wager on future economic and climate events.

Interactive Brokers said that its prediction market will have users taking yes-or-no positions on questions such as whether the consumer-price index will rise above a certain number or if the global temperature will reach a specific level. Called ForecastEx, it is set to begin operating July 8. The contracts are a new type of derivative, not securities. Interactive Brokers plans to expand to indicators around the world and other topics. Biggest Banks Can Withstand Severe Downturn and $685 Billion in Losses, Fed Says (Read) Amazon Shares Jump, Pushing Nasdaq Higher (Read) Companies Will Have to Disclose Spending on Worker Pay for the First Time (Read) 📰 Enjoying this newsletter? Get more from WSJ and support our journalism by subscribing today with this special offer.

🗨 Follow coverage of detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich

The WSJ’s Evan Gershkovich is being wrongfully detained in Russia after he was arrested while on a reporting trip and accused of espionage—a charge the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny. Follow the latest coverage, sign up for an email alert, and learn how you can use social media to support Evan. Sign Up MEMBER MESSAGE: TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT Ask Better Questions: Subscribe to the TLS Every week, the TLS publishes book reviews, essays and poems by leading writers from around the world. Surprising, authoritative, often provocative, we inspire our readers to ask better questions and cover everything from The Tempest to the climate crisis, little magazines to Big Tech, Dionysus to Diane Arbus. Don’t miss this exclusive sale offer and enjoy your first 3 months for just $3. Subscribe Now

The Numbers

31% The approximate share of taxpayer calls that IRS employees answered this tax season, according to the agency’s taxpayer advocate. People who want to contact the IRS are usually limited to phone calls or mail, though now it offers chatbots and a callback option. The agency, which disagreed with some of the report’s methodology, said that there’s clear consensus phone service has gotten better, but it needs to make additional improvements. ~14,000 The number of service members who were pushed out of the military from 1994 to 2008 under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, according to White House data. President Biden today moved to pardon LGBTQ service members discharged or prosecuted because of their sexual orientation. This will help them clear their records and apply for veterans benefits. Administration officials said they don’t know how many people the order will affect; their estimate is thousands. “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” was repealed in 2011.

‏‏‎1,000 Words

Federal Covid aid for schools helped students gain some academic ground, new research finds.

The impact of the nearly $200 billion to U.S. schools was modest, and many students are still behind, according to two studies released today. The money made the biggest difference for the country’s poorest schools, which received the most funding. The remaining dollars won’t be enough to get kids back to where they were before the pandemic, the researchers projected. Read More

‏‏‎Quoted

“In reality, it is not China but the U.S. that interferes with and hinders people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.”

—Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, responding to U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns’ recent assertions that Beijing is sabotaging diplomatic efforts to repair U.S-China relations. Mao said that her government has acted in a spirit of mutual respect, and that Washington had harassed and in some cases sent Chinese students home. Burns said that Beijing pressured citizens to skip U.S.-organized events and tried to intimidate attendees.

“The irony is for Ben & Jerry’s, that is what makes the company successful.”

—Ben & Jerry’s cofounder Jerry Greenfield, speaking about the ice cream maker’s longtime embrace of corporate activism, which some businesses have backed away from. Parent Unilever announced plans in March to spin off or sell its ice cream division, which also includes Breyers, Talenti and Klondike. Some observers view that as the end of Unilever’s failed experiment in mixing progressive politics with business.

Catch Up

Number of Pedestrians Killed by Drivers Remains Vexingly High (Read) Harvard Finds Jewish and Muslim Students Were Harassed, Bullied and Discriminated Against (Read) How to Debate Trump and Biden—According to People Who Actually Did It (Read) On Day of Fatal BP Refinery Blast, 3,712 Safety Alarms and One Unsent Email (Read) 🎥 The Last Traditional Lacemaker in England Is Fighting to Survive (Watch) He Barely Scored in College. Will Anyone Draft LeBron James’s Son? (Read)

Live Better

ILLUSTRATION: WSJ

Why you should wait to buy some Apple products

This year, the company has given customers a big reason to hold off for the summer, writes WSJ senior personal tech columnist Joanna Stern. Apple Intelligence, its artificial-intelligence software that will start rolling out this fall, requires new hardware. Plus, older models typically go on sale in the fall, and trade-in deals are more generous. Buying the latest model often means software updates last for an additional year or more. Read More

What Do You Think?

Yesterday, we asked whether gun violence should be labeled a public-health crisis. Here’s what you had to say: Absolutely not. I have been a gun owner all my life, and none of the assortment of rifles, shotguns or pistols has hurt anyone. If guns are to be considered a health crisis, what about knives, baseball bats, tire irons and other things that can be used as weapons? People are the problem, not the instrument. —Bill Alley, Kentucky I would have to say, “Duh!” Isn’t it the No. 1 cause of death in children? It isn’t rocket science, but it sure is a moral and mortality issue. —Cindy Krieg, Idaho Gun violence should not be labeled as a public-health crisis. The mental health of the individuals committing any type of violence is a public-health crisis. We need more options for the evaluation, treatment or in-patient care for individuals with mental illnesses. —Shelley Halleman, South Dakota Responses have been condensed and edited. Would you bet on future economic and climate events? Why or why not? Let us know at whatsnewsletter@wsj.com or reply to this newsletter. Include your full name and location, and we may publish your response in an upcoming issue.

Take a Break

An old jar of pickles put a St. Louis suburb on the map. Read More

Beyond the Newsroom

Buy Side from WSJ: What Is a Money Market Account and How to Get the Best Rates? Today's newsletter was curated by Zlati Meyer in collaboration with Leigh Kamping-Carder in New York. Follow Zlati on X at @Zlatimeyer and Leigh at @Leigh_KC. Sign up for WSJ newsletters on markets, tech, careers and more.   Access WSJ‌.com and our mobile apps. Subscribe

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