Month: June 2022

President Joe Biden announced during a summit with the leaders of the Group of Seven on Sunday that the United States will contribute $200 billion to a global infrastructure initiative. The United States committed to provide $200 billion to the program throughout the next five years in combination with contributions from other G7 members for an overall target of $600 billion.

Biden said in remarks at the summit: “Developing countries often lack the essential infrastructure to help navigate global shocks like a pandemic, so they feel the impacts more acutely and they have a harder timer recovering in our deeply connected world. That’s not just a humanitarian concern. It’s an economic and a security concern for all of us.”

The effort comes as China has spent nearly a decade investing in infrastructure in Africa and Asia, including financing for projects such as seaports and 5G wireless networks through its Belt and Road Initiative. Biden did not explicitly mention China during his remarks but said that when “democracies do all that we can offer” they can triumph over autocracies and offer “better options for people around the world.” Said Biden: “This isn’t a charity. It’s an investment that will deliver returns for everyone, including the American people, the people of all our nations. It will boost all of our economies and give a chance for us to share our positive vision for the future.”

In remarks before the meeting, Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the nations will “continue working on the economic challenges” each faces while standing together against Russia’s aggression in Europe. A senior White House official said that Biden and other G7 leaders will “continue to work to hold Putin accountable” while the United States, Britain, Canada and Japan announced they have banned the import of Russian gold, which is Moscow’s largest non-energy export at about $15.47 billion last year.

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Officials confirmed that three people were killed and two others seriously injured after an Amtrak train collided with a car in Brentwood, California on Sunday. The two people who were wounded, including a child, suffered serious injuries and were both sent to John Muir Medical Center, according to officials.

The tragedy occurred at about 1 p.m., in an unincorporated Brentwood area when the car was crossing the train track near the 3000 block of Orwood Road and was hit by a westbound train headed from Stockton to Martinez, said Steve Aubert, fire marshal with East Contra Costa Fire.

There were 89 people aboard the Amtrak train but nobody was hurt onboard the train, officials said. Fire officials told news outlets that they are called out to that location at least once or twice a year because it is a train crossing without a traffic guard.

The crash is currently under investigation.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday it is taking Juul Labs e-cigarettes and other vaping products off the market.  The decision comes after the FDA completed a nearly two-year review of the manufacturer’s application to sell its vaping device and tobacco- and menthol-flavored pods, and ultimately decided to block Juul’s application.

FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf said in a statement:  “Today’s action is further progress on the FDA’s commitment to ensuring that all e-cigarette and electronic nicotine delivery system products currently being marketed to consumers meet our public health standards. The agency has dedicated significant resources to review products from the companies that account for most of the U.S. market. We recognize these make up a significant part of the available products and many have played a disproportionate role in the rise in youth vaping.”

Juul became the most popular brand of e-cigarettes after hitting the market in the mid-2010s, due in large part to its wide variety of flavors, including creme, mango and mint. Politicians and anti-tobacco advocates have accused the company of using these flavors to market vaping to U.S. children and teenagers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nicotine exposure from e-cigarettes can hinder brain development in adolescents and young adults, which can continue into the mid-20s.  The CDC also says e-cigarettes can contain heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals that can damage the lungs.

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On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued ruled that Americans have the right to carry arms outside of the home and in public, a major victory for advocates of the Second Amendment. The high court voted 6-3 in striking down a New York law that said gun owners must demonstrate a need to carry firearms outside the home to obtain a legal permit. All six conservative justices voted against the New York law, and the three progressive justices voted to uphold the gun-safety statute.

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas said the New York law goes too far in restricting legal possession of firearms and said it violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: “Because the state of New York issues public-carry licenses only when an applicant demonstrates a special need for self-defense, we conclude that the state’s licensing regime violates the Constitution.”  

Justice Stephen Breyer, who is retiring at the end of the current term, wrote a dissenting opinion and was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.  Breyer wrote: “In 2020, 45,222 Americans were killed by firearms. Since the start of this year, there have been 277 reported mass shootings — an average of more than one per day.”  The high court’s three progressive justices also said: “Many states have tried to address some of the dangers of gun violence … by passing laws that limit, in various ways, who may purchase, carry, or use firearms of different kinds. The court today severely burdens states’ efforts to do so.”

President Joe Biden was “deeply disappointed” by the ruling, saying: “In the wake of the horrific attacks in Buffalo, [N.Y.], and Uvalde, [Texas], as well as the daily acts of gun violence that do not make national headlines, we must do more as a society — not less — to protect our fellow Americans. I urge states to continue to enact and enforce commonsense laws to make their citizens and communities safer from gun violence. As the late Justice [Antonin] Scalia recognized, the Second Amendment is not absolute. For centuries, states have regulated who may purchase or possess weapons, the types of weapons they may use, and the places they may carry those weapons. And the courts have upheld these regulations.”

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