The Supreme Court paves the way for Trump to strip legal protections from Haitian and Syrian immigrants. European leaders fear pro-Russian groups are seeding AI chatbots with propaganda. And the U.S. men’s national team suffers its first loss of the World Cup.
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Supreme Court sides with Trump admin in pair of rulings
The Supreme Court yesterday cleared the way for the Trump administration to strip legal protections from thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants, potentially expanding efforts to target other protected groups.
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The court, on a 6-3 vote on ideological lines, allows the administration to continue with its plan to strip Temporary Protected Status from about 35,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians.
The TPS program has provided humanitarian relief since 1990 to people from countries reeling from war, natural disasters or other catastrophes. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem concluded that Haiti and Syria no longer met the criteria for legal status, saying conditions in the countries had improved despite the State Department including them on its “do not travel” list.
More on the decision involving Haitian and Syrian immigrants.
The court also backed the Trump administration’s bid to strengthen the regulation of asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. In the ruling, also divided 6-3, the court said that someone who seeks to enter the United States cannot claim asylum if they present themselves to officials while still standing on Mexico soil because they are technically not in the U.S. Under federal law, a person can seek asylum only if they are “physically present” in the country or “arrives in the United States.”
More on the decision involving asylum claims at the border.
More politics news:
- For subscribers: The Supreme Court decision about asylum claims saw conservative Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Sonia Sotomayor clash openly in court. It all began with Alito reading aloud a summary of the decision and Sotomayor then reading from her dissent — which is normal. But what Alito said after Sotomayor concluded her remarks threw regular SCOTUS denizens off guard.
- For subscribers: In a Q&A, NBC News’ senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett discussed the Supreme Court’s big outstanding cases, limits on the court and more. Watch it here.
- Many prominent figures in the MAHA movement said they feel betrayed after the Supreme Court ruled that Bayer, the manufacturer of Roundup, did not need to warn consumers of a potential cancer risk associated with its weed killer.
- Speaker Mike Johnson said he and Trump are “on exactly the same page” after their White House meeting to discuss how to break a legislative impasse.
Pro-Russian groups are seeding AI chatbots with propaganda, European officials warn
Pro-Russian groups are bombarding popular AI systems with propaganda to get chatbots to repeat Kremlin talking points, senior European officials say, raising concerns ahead of America’s midterm elections over efforts to silently influence voters.
“Russian propaganda is spreading with a speed we never could imagine, and that makes this a global issue,” Liisa Pakosta, Estonia’s minister for justice and digital affairs, said in an interview.
This represents a new front in Russia’s broader disinformation and sabotage campaigns across the European Union. Pakosta and her colleagues view the threat as existential, particularly for Russia’s Baltic neighbors.
Read the full story here.
World Cup: The U.S. can shrug off its last-gasp loss to Turkey. Now the stakes go up.
The U.S. men’s national team entered last night’s match against Turkey without any stress. They’d already secured a spot in the next round as group winners, and the only suspense hinged on whether star Christian Pulisic would return from a calf injury (he did). So the 3-2 loss to Turkey, decided by a goal in the final minute of stoppage time, marked the last moment the U.S. could afford to relax in this tournament.
That meant that coach Mauricio Pochettino was able to rest nine starters while giving seven players their first minutes on the pitch. In the 58th minute, Pulisic returned and showed off his readiness to play.
Now, the team enters the do-or-die knockouts and will face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 on July 1.
Read the full recap here.
💥 What you missed: Ecuador stunned Germany 2-1, Ivory Coast beat Curaçao 2-0, Japan and Sweden drew 1-1, Paraguay and Australia drew 0-0, and the Netherlands finished atop its group by beating Tunisia 3-1.
🤝 Football vs. fútbol: Alex Freeman became the U.S.’s breakout star in last week’s big win over Australia. His dad, a former Green Bay Packers wideout, couldn’t be more proud.
🎟️ 3.6 million and counting: Attendance for this summer’s tournament has already surpassed the record set by the 1994 World Cup.
🗓 What to watch today: Norway and France play at 3 p.m. ET, as well as Senegal and Iraq. At 8 p.m., it’s Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay vs Spain. And at 11 p.m., it’s Egypt vs. Iran, and New Zealand vs. Belgium. See the full schedule.
📩 Join the excitement: Sign up for The Sports Desk newsletter for more in-depth World Cup coverage.
‘Doublet’ earthquakes caused mass destruction in Venezuela
Desperate recovery efforts continued a day after back-to-back earthquakes rocked Venezuela, making several structures in Caracas unstable. The death toll rose to 235 and is expected to rise, while over 4,300 people have been injured, the country’s health minister said. Videos have shown people trapped under debris, including children, pulled to safety.
Experts said the second earthquake began before the first had even ended, with the two onsets separated by just 39 seconds. The U.S. Geological Survey classified the 7.1- and 7.5-magnitude quakes as a doublet sequence — two earthquakes of similar strength striking in roughly the same area within a short period. While the phenomenon is not rare, the brief gap between the quakes likely increased the destruction.
Here’s what makes the fault lines beneath Venezuela so unique.
NBC Select: Prime Day ends today!
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Read All About It
- The U.N.’s shipping agency said it would pause an evacuation effort to get hundreds of stranded ships out through the Strait of Hormuz after a vessel was attacked in the Gulf of Oman.
- A federal judge is requesting that a deadlocked jury reach a verdict in the trial over the origin of Los Angeles’ deadly Palisades Fire.
- A former youth pastor who was charged with killing his wife 20 years after she fell to her death at Zion National Park is dead.
- Gambling disorder diagnoses rose more than 60% since 2018 in states that have legalized sports betting, a new study found.
Staff Pick: Secrets of ancient scrolls burned by Mount Vesuvius deciphered
With the help of AI-enabled “digital unwrapping,” scientists have deciphered text from ancient scrolls buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago. The documents include philosophical takes on ethics, the arts, human behavior and theology.
It’s an effort more than three centuries in the making. In this story, NBC News’ Rome-based correspondent Claudio Lavanga explains the painstaking processes people to unravel the scrolls and the technological breakthrough three years ago that changed everything. — Elizabeth Robinson, newsletter editor
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