Friday morning news: June 7, 2024

SOUND: [Ceremony music and applause]

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: D-Day remembrance » Hundreds gathered in Normandy, France on Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

One by one, French President Emmanuel Macron pinned the Legion of Honor medal on 11 proud Americans.

MACRON:  Here you came to join your efforts with our own soldiers and to make France a free nation. And you are back here today, at home, if I may say.

Britain’s King Charles III said brave allied troops faced what his grandfather, King George VI described as the supreme test.

KING CHARLES:  How fortunate we were, and the entire free world, that a generation of men and women in the United Kingdom and other allied nations Did not flinch when the moment came to face that test.

President Biden saluted the allied veterans in attendance, many now over 100 years old … who he said saved the world from tyranny.

Biden Ukraine remarks, Zelenskyy, aid package to Ukraine » Biden also drew parallels between the defense of freedom on D-Day and the present-day response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

BIDEN: Now we have to ask ourselves, will we stand against tyranny, against evil, against crushing brutality? Will we stand for freedom? My answer is yes and only can be yes.

The president says NATO is more united than ever against Vladimir Putin, who Biden described as a ‘tyrant bent on domination.’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also at the ceremony. He’s scheduled to meet with President Biden today in Paris amid reports the U.S. is set to deliver another $225 million dollars in military aid to Kyiv.

Israeli airstrike » The Biden administration is pressuring Israel for answers after dozens were killed by an Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza yesterday.

That school was supposed to be serving as a United Nations-run shelter for Palestinian refugees, but Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said Thursday Hamas had also taken up residence.

MENCER: The school had terrorists who actually took part in the murderous attack of October the 7th. We took them out. We targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists of the Nukhba forces. They obviously sought to exploit the school and shelter there.

Mencer said there were between 20-30 terrorists hiding in three classrooms inside the building and that Israel targeted those specific classrooms with precision strikes.

But an Associated Press reporter said women and children were among the 30 people who died in the strike.

That number has not been officially confirmed yet, but State Department spokesman Matthew Miller called the initial reports troubling.

MILLER: We have seen them (Israel) take improvements over time but still, if it bears true that this strike resulted in the death of 14 children, the results aren't where they need to be.

Israel has promised to release more information about the strike including the names of the people who died in it.

Hunter Biden gun trial » Hunter Biden is back in court today, day-5 of his trial on gun possession charges. WORLD’s Christina Grube reports.

CHRISTINA GRUBE: Hunter’s sister-in-law and former romantic partner, Hallie Biden, took the stand on Thursday. She testified that she found a gun in his car less than two weeks after it was purchased. She said that out of concern for his safety she threw the gun away in a public garbage can.

That gun was later found and turned in to police.

The president’s son is accused of lying on a federal gun purchase form claiming he was not a user of illegal drugs.

Jurors also saw texts in which Hallie begs Hunter to enter rehab soon after the gun purchase.

Additionally, she testified that he possessed crack cocaine and other drug paraphernalia though she never personally witnessed him using them.

For WORLD, I’m Christina Grube.

AUDIO: 4, 3, 2… [blasts]...

SpaceX mega rocket test flight/Starliner arrives at ISS » That’s SpaceX’s Starship rocket blasting off near Brownsville, Texas. The massive rocket is 90 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty when stacked on its booster.

Thursday’s test flight was a big success. The spacecraft rumbled halfway around the world, then successfully splashed down in the Indian Ocean.

NASA has enlisted SpaceX to build a version of Starship that can return astronauts to the moon in 2026.

Thursday also brought success for a SpaceX competitor, Boeing. Its new Starliner capsule delivered two astronauts to the International Space Station.

Program Manager Mark Nappi:

NAPPI: You know, the goal was to get to ISS. The goal was to dock. The goal was to get Suni and Butch safely on the International Space Station. Um, mission accomplished.

But the mission wasn’t easy. Four thrusters went down, forcing the crew to miss the first docking opportunity.

They were able to restart three of them, and made it on the second try.

SOUND: [Chainsaws]

Tornadoes in several states kill at least 13 » Chainsaws cutting apart fallen trees in Livonia, Michigan after a tornado tore through the area, killing a toddler.

All told, tornadoes and severe storms roared through several states, injuring more than a dozen people.

In Montgomery County, Maryland one man said a tornado uprooted a tree and dropped it on his house.

RESIDENT: The firefighters came, knock on my door. They tell me to get out, and I get out. And thank God I wasn’t hurt. Thank God everyone in my house was at church.

It’s been a very rough tornado season in the U.S., which started with 300 twisters in April alone — making it the second-most active April ever.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with Katie McCoy. Plus, a new Star Wars show.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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