SPOTLIGHT: HILLARY HISTORY
Hillary Clinton has held a long list of impressive titles: U.S. first lady, senator, secretary of state. And now she’s added another one to the list — Democratic Party nominee for the Oval Office. By virtually every count now, Clinton is set to be the first female candidate of a major party to win the presidential nomination. Tuesday’s contests cemented an insurmountable lead, with CNN projecting Clinton wins in New Jersey, South Dakota, New Mexico and the big prize: California.
It’s a historic win for sure. Nevertheless, Clinton still has much work to do among Democrats, as rival Bernie Sanders plans to stay in the race through to next Tuesday’s final primary in the District of Columbia. The Vermont senator is slated to meet with President Obama tomorrow at the White House, as the Democratic party embarks on the delicate job of re-uniting around one candidate. Wooing Sanders supporters, many of whom have been openly hostile to the former first lady, will be key in November against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Young voters have been particularly drawn to Sanders. So why has the so-called Gen Y, especially young women, shrugged at Clinton’s history-making candidacy? Writing in the Washington Post, recent college graduate Molly Roberts says that unlike her mother’s generation, young people consider gender equality to be a given. Clinton, more than ever, will take nothing for granted.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR TODAY
- World Oceans Day, with a special focus this year on stopping plastic pollution.
- Three-day High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS begins in New York.
CAR BOMB HITS TURKISH POLICE
A police station in the Turkish town of Midyat, near the Syrian border, was hit by a car bomb this morning. At least two officers were killed and several others are reported injured, according to Hürriyet. The attack comes just one day after a car bomb hit a police bus in Istanbul, killing 11 people.
VERBATIM
“Leaving is quitting and I don’t think we’re quitters. We’re fighters,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said during a televised debate last night, two weeks before a referendum on EU membership. He warned that voting for Brexit was choosing the “Little England option.” Recent polls show that opposition to the EU is growing, and not just in Britain.
— ON THIS DAY
From the Prophet Muhammad to Nineteen-Eighty-Four and Kanye West — take a look at today’s 57-second shot of History.
AUSTRIA FAR-RIGHT CHALLENGES ELECTION RESULT
Austria’s FPÖ party announced this morning it would challenge the result of last month’s presidential election, which saw Alexander Van der Bellen narrowly edge out nationalist candidate Norbert Hofer. Several allegations of irregularities over postal votes had been raised after the election.
FRANCE LAUNCHES ANTI-TERROR ATTACK APP
The French government has launched a terror alert application ahead of the Euro 2016 soccer tournament. SAIP, available on Android and iOS smartphones, will send geolocalized alerts and instructions in case of “exceptional events.”
— WORLDCRUNCH-TO-GO
The killing of a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo after a toddler fell in his enclosure is just the latest example of the twisted concept of the zoo industry. Following another spate of reports about the state of animals kept at the Buenos Aires and Mendoza zoos, Clarin‘s Matías Pandolfi asks: What lessons for your kids? “We should consider the effects on children of visiting a place where they are shown the confinement, loneliness, enslavement, stress and pain of other living creatures, as if this were worthwhile in some way. Where is the justification for so much suffering just to make money — which is what zoos these days are designed to do? Every time we buy an entry ticket, we are an accomplice of this suffering.”
Read the full article, Beyond The Gorilla Cage, Moral Costs Of The Modern Zoo.
16,000
The Auschwitz museum announced it had recovered some 16,000 items belonging to Jews killed at the death camp. The long-lost items, which include jewelry, cutlery, watches, brushes, tobacco pipes and more, had been stored away and forgotten by the communist regime in Poland.
EXTRA!
French daily Le Figaro reports Wednesday that a 24-year-old woman will be prosecuted for posing as a victim of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris in order to get a 20,000-euro compensation (about $23,000). Read more about it on Le Blog here.
VIOLENT PROTESTS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA
The police in Papua New Guinea opened fired on university students demonstrating against the government, injuring at least 17 protesters, Australia’s ABC reports.
CHINA TO ALLOW FOREIGN BANK CARDS
After years of lobbying, Visa and MasterCard have helped convince the Chinese government to end its monopoly on the national credit card market, The Shanghai Daily reports. According to Reuters, bank transactions reached 55 trillion yuan ($8.4 trillion) last year and the market will become the world’s biggest by 2020.
MY GRAND-PERE’S WORLD
Sitting In History — Vacherie, 1992
RUSSIAN SPORTS MINISTER DRAGGED INTO DOPING SCANDAL
Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko is facing accusations he covered up doping allegations against a Russian top soccer player, The Guardian reports. Of course, the Russian soccer team will be under particular scrutiny at the Euro championship, which begins Friday in France.
— MORE STORIES, BROUGHT TO YOU BY WORLDCRUNCH
- Where Are The Men Of Damascus? — Syria Deeply
- Why Friendship Is Overrated, A Grown-Up (And Grumpy) Reflection — Die Welt
- Europe’s Largest Migrant Center Is Dead End For Refugees — La Stampa
BRAIN DEAD WOMAN GIVES BIRTH
A Portuguese woman who has been brain dead for 15 weeks gave birth yesterday to a healthy five-pound boy at a Lisbon hospital, Público reports.
