Top Stories Today – June 8, 2019
Top Stories Today – June 8, 2019
France beats S Korea in first game of Women’s World Cup
France took on South Korea in the first game of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Paris, with France easily winning 4-0. The win came as no surprise, seeing as FiveThirtyEight lists the host team as the most likely to win the whole cup at 24 percent. The US team came into the cup at No. 1 on the FIFA rankings and has a 17 percent chance to win it all.
They’ll play their first game against Thailand on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET. Germany has a 10 percent chance to scoop the cup, and it’ll take on China in the next World Cup match at 9 a.m. ET. Off the field, the US women’s team is still waging their lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation for alleged gender discrimination. FiveThirtyEight via The Week
Thousands flee devastating floods in Libya
The UN refugee agency reports heavy flooding has forced more than 2,500 people to flee their homes in the city of Ghat in south-west Libya. It says the torrential rains, which began nearly two weeks ago have ravaged the town of Ghat, killing four people, including three children and injuring more than 30 others.
The UNHCR reports the rising floodwaters have caused huge material damage, cutting off main roads and telecommunication networks for days. Agency spokesman, Charlie Yaxley says Ghat’s only hospital is flooded. The Voice of America
Trump suspends Mexico tariffs
President Trump announced on Friday the tariffs he had threatened to levy on goods from Mexico beginning June 10 are “indefinitely suspended.” This comes as Trump says the United States reached a deal with Mexico after several days of talks. “Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to stem the tide of migration through Mexico, and to our southern border,” Trump wrote on Friday evening.
The White House earlier in the day had said that Trump’s tariffs were still scheduled to go into effect on Monday if a deal was not reached despite mounting Republican opposition, with Trump having said they would increase in the subsequent months. Donald Trump, The Washington Post via The Week
6 American to stand trial in Venezuela
Six American oil executives held in an overcrowded Venezuelan prison for 18 months finally got their day in court Friday only to see their hopes of being released dashed. No date for the trial to begin was set. The decision was a painful blow to the families of the men who were initially heartened by news their loved ones would have the chance to profess their innocence in court after judge Gil had canceled 15 previous hearings giving little reason.
Their travail began the weekend before Thanksgiving in 2017, when the six executives got a call from the head of Venezuelan oil giant PDVSA summoning them to Caracas for a last-minute budget meeting. Once there, armed and masked security agents burst into a conference room and arrested them on embezzlement charges stemming from a never-executed proposal to refinance some $4 billion in Citgo bonds by offering a 50 percent stake in the company as collateral. Maduro himself accused them of treason, though they have not been charged with that crime. The Voice of America
NASA is opening the space station to commercial
NASA executives announced, June 7 that the space agency will open up parts of the International Space Station to more commercial opportunities, allowing companies unprecedented use of the space station’s facilities, including filming commercials or movies against the backdrop of space. NASA is also calling on the private space industry to send in ideas for habitats and modules that can be attached to the space station semi-permanently.
A new interim directive from NASA allows private companies to buy time and space on the ISS for producing, marketing, or testing their products. It also allows those companies to use resources on the ISS for commercial purposes, even making use of NASA astronauts’ time and expertise (but not their likeness). If companies want, they can even send their own astronauts to the ISS, starting as early as 2020, but all of these activities come with a hefty price tag. The Verge