Queen Elizabeth II died on Sept. 8, marking the end of her seventy-year reign in the United Kingdom. Her son, King Charles III, has taken over the monarchy.
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The Supreme Court has voted to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision, according to a leaked draft opinion published by Politico. The draft majority opinion, which was confirmed by Chief Justice John Roberts, could mark the end of the constitutional right to abortion, although the Court’s final decision may change. In 1973, the Supreme Court heard the case of Jane Roe, a pseudonym for Norma McCorvey, against Henry Wade, a district attorney in Dallas, Texas. At the time, McCorvey was looking to have an abortion in Texas, which had a law banning abortion unless a woman’s life was endangered. McCorvey sued Wade, and while she won the case, Texas appealed to the Supreme Court. The Court ruled in favor of McCorvey, stating that the law violated her right to personal privacy and was subsequently unconstitutional, thus ruling that the U.S. Constitution protected a woman’s right to have an abortion during the first three months of her pregnancy without interference from the state.
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Ten people were shot and another 13 were wounded after a mass shooting on a subway train in Brooklyn, NY. The suspect, Frank James, was arrested on April 13 and charged with a federal terrorism offense. On April 12, James, dressed in a construction vest and helmet, put on a gas mask and tossed two smoke grenades on the floor of the N train and shot 33 bullets as it neared 36th St. station. He then fled the scene after shooting 10 people, five of whom were critically injured. Thirteen others were injured from smoke inhalation, panic attacks or falling down, according to the BBC. All victims are expected to survive, but the shooting traumatized many New Yorkers who were at the scene.
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Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has labeled Russia’s attacks against the Ukrainian people as war crimes. Given the murder and torture of hundreds of Ukrainian civilians, many countries, including the United States and Britain, have since echoed his sentiment. In light of this, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on April 6 in favor of a bill that proposes an investigation of war crimes committed by the Russian military. Specifically, the bill requests that President Joe Biden send a report to Congress regarding the U.S. Government’s efforts to collect evidence related to Russian war crimes since the start of the war.
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A significant portion of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia suffered through its sixth mass bleaching effect, creating concern that the reef may not recover. Coral bleaching occurs when temperatures rise and the algae living inside reefs leave, causing corals to lose their food source and subsequently turn white. However, if temperatures cool for a long enough time, corals are able to recover.
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NASA recently announced plans to retire the International Space Station (ISS) by the end of 2030, marking the transition to commercial services after 20 years in space. The news comes as the Biden administration committed to extending the ISS’s operations until 2030 to continue the current research being conducted and to facilitate the transition to private, commercial space travel. The extension will also consist of the advancements in space research and technology in order to send the first woman and person of color to the moon and the first people to Mars.
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The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report on Feb. 28 highlighting the dangers of climate change unless rapid measures are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The report is part of a series of reports on climate science and follows a report released in Aug. 2021 that examined how human activities heat the planet.
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As the number of Covid-19 cases has dropped across the nation, several states have announced dropping indoor mask mandates or school mask mandates in the coming weeks, including New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, California, Delaware, Massachusetts, Illinois, Nevada, Washington and Oregon.
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On Jan. 24, two earthquakes, with magnitudes of 5.4 and 5.6, struck southern Haiti, killing two people and injuring 52. These earthquakes come after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Aug. 2021, which killed over 2,000 people.
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Amid tensions between the United States and Russia over Ukraine, President Biden ordered the Pentagon to deploy 3,000 U.S. troops to Eastern Europe on Feb. 2. The order reflects the United States’ efforts to support European allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and increase its defenses.
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