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Nato’s secretary general said this week’s Madrid summit would agree the alliance’s most significant transformation for a generation, putting 300,000 troops at high readiness in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Jens Stoltenberg added that the military alliance’s existing forces in the Baltic states and five other frontline countries would be increased “up to brigade levels” – doubled or trebled to between 3,000 and 5,000 troops. That would amount to “the biggest overhaul of our collective defence and deterrence since the cold war,” Stoltenberg said before the meeting of the 30-country alliance, which runs from Tuesday to Thursday this week. The rapid reaction Nato Response Force currently numbers up to 40,000 but the proposed change amounts to a broader revision in response to Russian militarisation, which also includes bringing stocks of munitions and other supplies further east. (more) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/27/nato-300000-troops-high-alert-russia-threat-ukraine

The city's mayor Vitaliy Meletskiy said the strike on the "very crowded" structure had caused deaths and injuries, but gave no figures A shopping centre with over 1,000 civilians inside has been hit by a Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. "The mall is on fire, firefighters are trying to extinguish the fire, the number of victims is impossible to imagine," said the country's leader, writing on the Telegram messaging app. Footage on social media showed a large number of people stood outside as a huge blaze raged inside the building and dark smoke billowed into the sky. ... At least two people were killed and 20 were injured in the attack, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office. (more) https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-missile-strike-on-shopping-centre-with-over-1-000-people-inside-in-city-of-kremenchuk-zelenskyy-says-12641299

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The American public is rendering its initial judgment on the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and most disapprove of the ruling, including two-thirds of women who disapprove. By more than a 20-point margin, Americans call it a step backward rather than forward for America. And women, by more than three to one, think the ruling will make women's lives worse rather than better. Those who approve — and in particular, the three-fourths of conservatives who do — say they feel both hopeful and happy. As they look ahead, those disapproving of Friday's ruling are especially likely to think the high court might someday limit or end birth control and also same-sex marriage. (more) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/cbs-news-poll-americans-react-to-overturning-of-roe-v-wade/ar-AAYSUVv?li=BBnb7Kz

Airline giant Lufthansa is planning to cut more than 3,000 flights this summer due to staff shortages and strikes. The news comes as a second wave of announcements is confirmed on Thursday, and currently relates to 2,200 flights - or 3 per cent of those scheduled. The company already cut back 5 per cent of summer flights on Fridays and weekends, including 900 connections. It said this was due to "bottlenecks and [a] shortage of personnel, [meaning] the entire European aviation sector suffers". Lufthansa’s own low-cost carrier, Eurowings, also announced "several hundred fewer flights" in July. (more) https://www.euronews.com/travel/2022/06/24/lufthansa-is-the-latest-european-airline-to-cancel-thousands-of-flights-at-the-last-minute

Hidden behind St Vincent's hospital in Sydney there's an unassuming grey building where some extraordinary research is happening. It's here that the detailed medical data of 128 of Australia's COVID veterans — who caught the original Alpha strain in early 2020 — is being picked apart and exhaustively analysed. The hope is that by tracking this cohort over years, Australia might contribute to the international effort to understand this fiendish virus and its short and long-term effects. And the team has found something startling. Around one quarter of the ADAPT study's participants were experiencing noticeable cognitive decline a year after getting COVID. And, some sort of cognitive decline was recorded in almost all of the participants, regardless of the severity of the initial infection. (more) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-25/long-covid-clinic-st-vincents-cognitive-decline/101178450

OLYMPIA — In fiery remarks by the state Capitol steps, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Saturday blasted the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade as “radical” and “un-American,” and announced the state would fight back through law enforcement, extra support for women seeking abortions and an effort to advance a state constitutional amendment protecting the right to an abortion. The governor plans to instruct the Washington State Patrol not to cooperate with law enforcement officials from other states who may seek to prosecute violations of their states’ abortion laws as people travel to Washington seeking abortions. Inslee said he would support legislation to make that a statewide policy, binding other Washington law enforcement agencies to the same prohibition. Inslee said he plans to work to boost health care resources, starting with $1 million, to deal with an expected increase in people coming to the state for abortion care. (more) https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/inslee-protesters-gather-at-wa-capitol-in-response-to-roe-v-wade-decision/

The Sunday Times claimed the prince accepted three million euros in cash donations for his charity the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund The Prince of Wales accepted large cash donations totalling three million euros from a former Qatari prime minister, the Sunday Times has reported. The newspaper claimed the prince personally accepted the cash donations for his charity the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund (PWCF) between 2011 and 2015 from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim who was prime minister of Qatar between 2007 and 2013. Clarence House said the donations were “passed immediately” to one of the prince’s charities and that “appropriate governance” was carried out. (more) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/qatari-charles-prince-prince-of-wales-clarence-house-b2109667.html

The Russian war against Ukraine will inevitably dominate the summit of G7 nations in Bavaria. And the leaders of the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan face a difficult challenge. They are aiming to put on a show of unity and resolve over the war. In recent months, the Western alliance has shown signs of strain and fatigue. Some voices - particularly in France, Germany and Italy - have asked if it might not be better for the war to end, even if it came at the cost of Ukraine having to cede territory. A recent cross-Europe opinion poll suggested some voters put solving the cost-of-living crisis ahead of punishing Russia. (more) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61940007

In abruptly scrapping the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy the court went against the popular will – only 25% of Americans now have confidence in the institution Striding from the US supreme court to the nearby US Capitol, holding aloft a sign that said “My body my choice” and “Women’s right to choose”, Taylor Treacy was struggling to fathom how she had fewer constitutional rights now than when she awoke that morning. “It’s heartbreaking,” said the 28-year-old, who works in sports marketing. “The people who have legally gotten abortions in the United States are mostly Black and brown women, yet the five justices able to have the final word were four powerful men and one white woman. We’re allowing more access to guns yet we’re taking away the rights of women. It just seems like we’re going backwards.” ... Simon Schama, a leading historian, tweeted on Friday: “American democracy is in deep trouble. It can’t survive in its present form if the constitution is manipulated to impose minority rule.” (more) https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022/jun/26/us-supreme-court-abortion-ruling-democracy

Russia will soon exhaust its combat capabilities, Western assessments predict The Russian military will soon exhaust its combat capabilities and be forced to bring its offensive in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region to a grinding halt, according to Western intelligence predictions and military experts. "There will come a time when the tiny advances Russia is making become unsustainable in light of the costs and they will need a significant pause to regenerate capability," said a senior Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue. The assessments come despite continued Russian advances against outgunned Ukrainian forces, including the capture on Friday of the town of Severodonetsk, the biggest urban center taken by Russia in the east since launching the latest Donbas offensive nearly three months ago. The Russians are now closing in on the adjacent city of Lysychank, on the opposite bank of the Donetsk river. (more) https://www.stripes.com/theaters/europe/2022-06-25/russia-exhaust-combat-capabilities-6455704.html

Kyiv was hit by four Russian missile strikes early on Sunday morning for the first time in three weeks, during which life had been slowly returning to the Ukrainian capital in the relative calm. Columns of smoke rose over the central Shevchenkivskyi district, home to a cluster of universities, restaurants and art galleries at 6.22am. Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said two residential buildings had been hit in what he called an attempt to “intimidate Ukrainians” before a Nato summit in Madrid beginning on Tuesday. Around 11am, there were at least several unconfirmed reports of two more explosions in Kyiv. (more) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/26/russian-missiles-strike-kyiv-ukraine-first-time-three-weeks

Johnson was defiant in Rwanda after his byelection disasters, but at home there was renewed Tory anger While Boris Johnson was in Rwanda, having an early-morning swim in the luxurious pool of the conference hotel, his Tory critics were already planning another go at ousting him. The backbench plotters had previously been despondent about the prospects of kicking Johnson out after he narrowly won a confidence vote of his MPs and the cabinet rallied round him. But they have been given fresh hope of removing him in the coming weeks because of renewed anger and incredulity among Tory MPs about the disastrous byelection results, as well as the scandal over attempts to get a government job for his then girlfriend and now wife, Carrie Johnson. “It’ll be a random walk, but we’ll get there erelong,” said one former cabinet minister cheerfully. (more) https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/24/boris-johnson-tory-rebels-see-fresh-opportunity-to-oust-pm-byelection-losses

Russian forces have now fully occupied the strategic Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk, the mayor has said, after weeks of heavy fighting and bombardment. "The city is now under the full occupation of Russia. They are trying to establish their own order, as far as I know they have appointed some kind of commandant," Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said. It comes after Ukraine said it was pulling back its troops from the ruined city, in a significant gain for Russia as it grinds on in its offensive in the eastern Donbas region. Meanwhile, pro-Russian separatists said that Moscow's troops had entered Lysychansk, a neighbouring city to Severodonetsk, and that street fighting was underway. (more) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/06/25/ukraine-war-russia-news-invasion-live-war-putin-threat-uk/

Norway attack: Mass shooting suspect 'radicalised Islamist' - as terror threat raised to highest level Security services raise the country's terror alert to the highest level of "extraordinary" and police will now carry guns following the armed rampage, which killed two people, wounded more than 20 and led to the cancellation of the city's Pride parade A suspected gunman charged over a deadly mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Norway's capital Oslo is believed to be a radicalised Islamist with a history of mental illness, according to the country's intelligence service. The attack, which killed two people and wounded more than 20, has led the PST security agency to raise its terror alert to "extraordinary" - the highest level. It came as people flocked to the scene of the incident to pay tribute to those killed and hurt, by laying a colourful carpet of flowers and LGBT+ flags, including Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway and members of the government. (more) https://news.sky.com/story/norway-attack-mass-shooting-suspect-radicalised-islamist-with-history-of-mental-illness-12640110

California offers ‘blueprint’ for states impacted by Supreme Court gun ruling ... California’s robust list of gun safety laws also includes a ban on assault-style weapons, ghost gun regulations, a 10-day waiting period for all gun purchases, red flag laws, age restrictions, universal background checks and mental health reporting. “Many of those laws are not being implemented in many states throughout the country. They're not being implemented at the federal level. If they were, lives would be saved — Thousands. It's undisputed,” Bonta said. Some of those laws include the “red flag law,” which California was one of the first states in the nation to adopt in 2016. This law “allows law enforcement, family members, employers, coworkers and school employees to file a Gun Violence Restraining Order (GVRO) against an individual suspected of being a danger to themselves and others.” The order bans the person from possessing firearms. But Bonta says there are even more bills heading toward the desk of California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, that he says will strengthen their gun laws and calls on elected officials across the country to act. (more) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/california-offers-blueprint-for-states-impacted-by-supreme-court-gun-ruling/ar-AAYRrX2

President Biden on Saturday signed the largest gun control bill in nearly 30 years less than 24-hours after it passed through the Congress with unusual haste. "Time is of the essence. Lives will be saved," Biden said in an address to the nation. "From Columbine to Sandy Hook to Charleston, Orlando, Las Vegas, Parkland, El Paso, Atlanta, Buffalo, Uvalde and for the shootings that happen every day in the streets. How many times have you heard that, ‘just do something, for God's sake just do something’?" "Today, we did," he added. The House passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act Friday in a 234 -193 vote with 14 Republicans crossing party lines just one day after the Senate passed the legislation in a 65-33 vote Thursday night. (more) https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-signs-gun-control-bill-deadly-mass-shootings

Abortion ruling conflicts with public opinion The Supreme Court went against the prevailing public opinion on abortion rights when it overturned Roe v. Wade Friday. Driving the news: After a leaked draft opinion showed the court was planning to overturn Roe, three in five Americans said abortion should be legal always or most of the time, per an NBC News poll. That's the strongest support for abortion rights in NBC polling since 2003. What they’re saying: In his majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito rejected the idea that the court should even consider the public’s response when determining its position on a case. (more) https://www.axios.com/2022/06/25/supreme-court-abortion-ruling-public-opinion

When US Senators questioned Samuel Alito at his confirmation hearing in 2006, the now-Supreme Court Justice, author of Friday's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, hinted that the landmark 1973 abortion ruling was an "important precedent." "It is a precedent that has now been on the books for several decades," Alito said. "It has been challenged. It has been reaffirmed." At the same hearing, he talked about the principle of "stare decisis," where Supreme Court justices respect the precedents set by previous decisions in making their rulings. He stopped short of calling it settled law, noting that Roe v. Wade, which established a nationwide right to abortion, was "involved in litigation now at all levels." In Friday's majority opinion for Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Alito wrote that the Roe v. Wade decision was "on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided," comparing it to the Supreme Court decision that upheld racial segregation laws. "Stare decisis is not an inexorable command," he wrote in the majority opinion, and when properly applied, meant that Roe should be overturned, not upheld. (more) https://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-stare-decisis-roe-wade-dobbs-jackson-2022-6?inline-endstory-related-recommendations=

(CNN) Oslo's annual Pride parade was canceled on Saturday following a deadly shooting at a gay bar that Norwegian police are investigating as a possible terrorist attack. Two people were killed and eight others taken to hospital after the shooting near the London Pub, which describes itself on its website as "the largest gay and lesbian venue in Oslo." Police received multiple calls about the shooting at 1:14 a.m. local time, and arrived at the scene minutes later. They apprehended the male suspect three minutes after arrival, police said. The suspect, charged with terrorism, is a Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, and was "known to the police," but has only received "minor convictions" up until now, prosecutor Christian Hatlo told reporters in Oslo Saturday. (more) https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/24/europe/norway-oslo-gay-bar-shooting-intl-hnk/index.html

Scotland hit hardest in the UK as cases climb 40% to leave one in 20 people suffering from the disease Covid-19 infections continue to surge across the UK, with the number of people in England estimated to have the virus jumping 20 per cent to 1.3mn in the past week, according to the latest official survey. The rapid spread of infections is driven by new Omicron subvariants and has raised the virus’s prevalence in the population to the highest level since April 2022, the weekly study by the Office for National Statistics showed. ... The data released on Friday, covering the week to June 18, show that an estimated 1.36mn — 2.5 per cent of the population — in England would test positive for Covid. ... Reassuringly, there is no evidence that BA.4 and BA.5 cause more severe illness than previous variants. “We have seen a rise in hospital admissions in line with community infections but vaccinations are continuing to keep intensive care unit admissions and deaths at low levels,” said Susan Hopkins, UKHSA chief medical adviser. (more) https://www.ft.com/content/825af088-a63a-40c5-a038-9701d4f3651a

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres BERLIN (AP) — The head of the United Nations warned Friday that the world faces “catastrophe” because of the growing shortage of food around the globe. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the war in Ukraine has added to the disruptions caused by climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and inequality to produce an “unprecedented global hunger crisis” already affecting hundreds of millions of people. “There is a real risk that multiple famines will be declared in 2022,” he said in a video message to officials from dozens of rich and developing countries gathered in Berlin. “And 2023 could be even worse.” (more) https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-united-nations-berlin-f295ba73df6ac58b500288f23286f246