Top Stories Today – June 1, 2019
Top Stories Today – June 1, 2019
13 dead at Virginia shooting
A longtime city employee shot and killed 12 people and injured at least four others after opening fire Friday afternoon in the public works building, making it the country’s deadliest mass shooting this year. Police said officers killed the man, whom they did not name, after he fired at them in the city’s scenic Municipal Center in Princess Anne, a campus of about 30 brick Colonial-style buildings.
One officer was shot during the exchange but was saved by his bulletproof vest, the chief said.
Friday’s rampage is believed to be the worst mass killing in Virginia Beach’s history. In the US, it is the deadliest attack since the November 2018 shooting at Borderline Bar & Grill in California, when 12 people were killed. The shooter on Friday was a current employee of the public utility department, Cervera said. He came armed with a .45-caliber handgun with a sound suppressor on it and shot one victim in a vehicle outside before entering the building. The rest were shot inside. Cervera said police found victims on every floor of the building. The Virginian-Pilot
Trump: Boris Johnson would be an excellent leader
Donald Trump has said Boris Johnson would be an “excellent” choice for the Conservative Party leadership. In an interview with the Sun ahead of his visit to the UK, Trump said: “I think Boris would do a very good job.” The US president said other candidates had sought his endorsement, adding: “I could help anybody.”
His comments came as Home Secretary Sajid Javid became the latest leadership contender to say he was prepared to leave the EU with no deal. Writing in the Daily Mail, Javid ruled out holding another referendum, an early general election or revoking Article 50 to end the Brexit process. As the UK braces for Trump’s visit with a multi-million-pound security operation, Trump said he had been paying close attention to the Tory leadership contest, which will decide the UK’s next prime minister. Johnson has not responded to Trump’s endorsement and has been critical of the US president in the past. BBC
UN watchdog: Iran complying with 2015 nuclear deal
The U.N. atomic watchdog said Friday that Iran continues to stay within the limitations set by the nuclear deal reached in 2015 with major powers, though its stockpiles of low-enriched uranium and heavy water are growing. In a confidential quarterly report distributed to member states and seen by The Associated Press, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran has stayed within key limitations set in the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.
The deal is meant to keep Tehran from building atomic weapons in exchange for economic incentives. It has been complicated by the unilateral withdrawal of the United States last year and Washington’s increased sanctions, which has been taking a toll on the Iranian economy. That has left the other signatories — Germany, Britain, France, Russia, and China — struggling to come up with enough incentives to keep Iran in the deal. The Voice of America
US to launch Google antitrust inquiry
The US Justice Department is preparing an investigation of Alphabet Inc.’s Google to determine whether the tech giant broke antitrust law in operating its sprawling online businesses, two sources familiar with the matter said. Officials from the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission, which both enforce antitrust law, met in recent weeks to give Justice jurisdiction over Google, said the sources, who sought anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
The potential investigation represents the latest attack on a tech company by the administration of US President Donald Trump, who has accused social media companies and Google of suppressing conservative voices on their platforms online. One source said the potential investigation, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, focused on accusations that Google gave preference to its own businesses in searches. A spokesman for the Justice Department said he could not confirm or deny that an investigation was being considered. Google declined to comment. The Voice of America
Mexico will send a delegation to talk Trump out of tariffs
President Trump on Thursday said he would impose a 5 percent tariff on all Mexican imports starting June 10, and that the tariffs would rise another 5 percent each month, to a 25 percent cap, unless Mexico “substantially stops” the flow of undocumented immigrants into the US On Friday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his foreign minister would lead a delegation to Washington, D.C. to talk Trump out of the decision.
Bipartisan senators also reminded Trump that tariffs would harm the American economy and his chances of passing a trade deal with Mexico and Canada. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all dipped the morning after Trump’s announcement, and each closed down more than a percentage point on Friday. The New York Times, The White House via The Week
Missouri’s last abortion clinic to temporarily stay open
A judge on Friday temporarily blocked Missouri from taking action that would have made the state the first in the US since Roe v. Wade to not have a single abortion clinic.
Planned Parenthood, which now operates the only clinic in Missouri performing abortions, won a temporary restraining order from circuit court Judge Michael F. Stelzer. The clinic will stay open till at least Tuesday when there will be a hearing at 9 a.m. to consider a preliminary injunction. Without Friday’s court action, the St. Louis clinic’s license for providing abortions would have expired at midnight. NBC News