THE BIG IDEA:
— Donald Trump yesterday backed off his earlier speculation about the death of Vince Foster. “I don’t think that it’s something that should be part of the campaign,” he said.
In an op-ed in today’s Post, Foster’s sister, Sheila Foster Anthony, rips into the presumptive Republican nominee for “cynically, crassly and recklessly” insinuating that her brother was murdered by the Clintons. She believes it is “beyond contempt that a politician would use a family tragedy to further his candidacy.”
— As the battles of the 1990s get relitigated, it feels important to point out that a shockingly large number of Americans are unfamiliar with the particulars of the Clinton-era sagas. I spoke to a very bright class of undergraduates at the University of Texas at Austin last night, for example. Not one of the students had heard of Whitewater.
— Sadly, this includes a not insignificant number of reporters. A New York Times journalist tweeted this after a Trump aide accidentally forwarded to a reporter an email asking the Republican National Committee to “work up information on HRC/Whitewater as soon as possible”:
GET SMART FAST:
Congress left town without striking a deal on Zika funding just as mosquito season is about to get underway. Republican lawmakers say an accord can be struck with enough time to allow for public health officials to develop a vaccine. (Paul Kane and Mike DeBonis)
Rand Paul unexpectedly blocked a bipartisan chemical safety bill in the Senate because he wants more time to read it. The Kentuckian, trying to improve his numbers back home in the face of a tougher-than-expected reelection fight, cited concerns over a provision in the 180-page bill to enact “new criminalization” at the federal level. (Juliet Eilperin)
The FDA approved the first implantable drug to deliver long-lasting medication to people addicted to opioids such as OxyContin and heroin. The implant, inserted under the skin of the upper arm, administers a continuous anti-addiction dose for six months. (Laurie McGinley)
Oil prices topped $50 a barrel for the first time this year, a significant reversal that you could soon feel at the pump. (Steven Mufson)
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the Supreme Court has been hurt by the absence of a ninth judge, telling judges at a New York conference that a 4-4 deadlock has prevented many important issues from being ruled upon. “Eight, as you know, is not a good number for a multi-member court,” she said. (Robert Barnes)
Egyptian officials detected emergency signals from Flight 804 after it crashed into the Mediterranean Sea last week, decreasing the search area from a location “the size of Connecticut” to just a 3.1 mile radius. (CNN)
The U.N. said it has only been able to deliver aid to a fraction of war-torn Syria, calling the situation “horrendously critical” and warning that many malnourished children are at risk of starving to death. (Karen DeYoung)
The World Health Organization said 1,000 people were killed in attacks on healthcare facilities during 2014 and 2015. (Max Bearak)
Yesterday alone, the Italian Coast Guard rescued more than 4,000 refugees after several boats capsized in the Mediterranean. Up to 30 perished in the dangerous journey. (AP)
An armed mob of Muslims in Egypt stripped an elderly Christian woman and paraded her naked through the streets. The group then set fire to seven Christian homes. They did this because they believed that her son had slept with a Muslim woman. (AP)
Google defeated Oracle’s lawsuit seeking $9 billion. A jury decided the search giant’s use of Oracle’s Java programming language in the Android phone is legal. (Joel Rosenblatt)
For the first time in Olympic history, a pair of identical triplets will compete against each other in the same event. (Des Bieler)
Scientists discovered a sea sponge measuring the size of a minivan during a deep-sea expedition, breaking records and identifying a new species. (Elahe Izadi)
More than eight centuries after the archbishop of Canterbury was murdered for clashing with King Henry II in 1170, a piece of what is believed to have been his elbow is traveling from Hungary back to England. (New York Times)
A 22-year-old in Tennessee man pleaded guilty to extortion charges after soliciting money from a woman on Snapchat, leading her to believe he was a University of Tennessee football star. (Lindsey Bever)
A 23-year-old Arizona man died after being stung more than 1,000 times by a swarm of angry bees, the latest in a series of increasingly aggressive attacks across the Grand Canyon State. (Michael E. Miller)
Posted by Ainhoa Aristizabal — Unruly Hearts editor
UNRULY HEARTS 