Voters go to the polls today in Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas to cast their ballots in the states’ various primary elections and runoffs. Of particular note will be Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial primary between Gov. Brian Kemp and former Sen. David Perdue; Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State primary between Brad Raffensperger and Rep. Jody Hice; Alabama’s Republican U.S. Senate primary between Katie Britt, Mike Durant, and Rep. Mo Brooks; and a Democratic U.S. House primary in Texas between Rep. Henry Cuellar and Jessica Cisneros.
In what is believed to be the first war crimes trial since Russia’s invasion began, a Ukrainian court on Monday found a 21-year-old Russian soldier guilty of premeditated murder and violating the “rules and customs of war” after he admitted to fatally shooting a 62-year-old unarmed civilian in the Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka. The soldier, who was sentenced to life in prison, claimed he was following orders from superiors who were concerned the civilian would report their location.
After suspending all business activity in Russia in early March, Starbucks announced Monday it will permanently exit the country and “no longer have a brand presence” in the market. The company said it will continue to pay its nearly 2,000 employees in the country for six months while they “transition to new opportunities.” Separately, CNBCreported Monday Airbnb plans to close its domestic business in China and remove all mainland Chinese listings by this summer, while continuing to allow Chinese tourists to book lodging in other countries.
Pfizer and BioNTech announced Monday data from a Phase 2/3 trial showed a third 3-µg dose of the companies’ COVID-19 vaccine was safe and solicited a strong immune response in children between 6 months and 5 years of age—about 80 percent effective against symptomatic infection. The companies plan to finish filing the data with the Food and Drug Administration this week, and the agency said a panel of outside experts will meet to discuss the vaccines on June 14 and 15.
A third-party report released Sunday—commissioned by the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) Executive Committee—found SBC leaders mishandled sexual abuse claims within the church for decades, and that survivors were “met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility” from church leaders.
Pennsylvania’s Republican U.S. Senate primary remains too close to call—and on track for a recount—with Dr. Mehmet Oz leading Dave McCormick by fewer than 1,000 votes. The McCormick campaign filed a lawsuit on Monday arguing that because of a court order released last week, election officials must count mail-in and absentee ballots that lack a date on their envelope. The matter will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed on Monday to avenge the death of a top member of the country’s Revolutionary Guard who was shot and killed by unknown assailants over the weekend. Iranian officials have, without evidence, blamed Israel and the United States for the assassination, and the incident will likely heighten regional tensions.
A three-judge panel for the 11th Circuit unanimously kept in place an injunction blocking most of Florida’s new social media law that would prohibit platforms from moderating users’ posts based on viewpoint. “It is substantially likely that social-media companies—even the biggest ones—are ‘private actors’ whose rights the First Amendment protects, that their so-called ‘content-moderation’ decisions constitute protected exercises of editorial judgment, and that the provisions of the new Florida law that restrict large platforms' ability to engage in content moderation unconstitutionally burden that prerogative,” the judges wrote.
An FBI report released Monday found the number of “active shooter incidents” in the United States—defined as one or more individuals engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area and excluding gang violence, self-defense, or domestic disputes—increased from 40 in 2020 to 61 in 2021. All but one of the shootings were carried out by men, and a total of 243 people were killed (103) or wounded (140) in the 61 incidents.
Special counsel John Durham and his team have sought to demonstrate at trial this week that the FBI took a tip about alleged Trump campaign connections to Russia more seriously because agents didn’t know the tip’s source–attorney Michael Sussmann, charged with lying to the FBI—had shared the information in his capacity as an attorney for Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Sussmann’s defense claims the FBI knew about his Democratic ties and decided to pursue the lead independently.
