Thursday morning news - June 17, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Biden, Putin call Geneva meeting productive, not hostile » President Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin met face to face in Geneva on Wednesday.

Biden said the tone of the three-hour meeting was neither friendly nor hostile, but professional and matter of fact.

BIDEN: Just letting him know where I stood, what I thought we could accomplish together, and what in fact, if there were violations of American sovereignty, what we would do.

President Biden said he made no threats, but made clear that if Russia crossed certain red lines—including going after major American infrastructure—the United States would respond and—quote—“the consequences of that would be devastating.”

Biden also once again decried the jailing of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

For his part, Putin defended Navalny’s arrest. And he insisted once again that his country had nothing to do with recent ransomware attacks affecting U.S. infrastructure. But he agreed with President Biden that the meeting was not hostile, calling it instead productive.

PUTIN: Principally speaking, many of our positions — we don’t share the same positions in many areas, but I think both sides showed a willingness to understand one another and to find ways to bring our positions closer together.

To that end, both leaders agreed to return their nations' ambassadors to their posts in Washington and Moscow. They also agreed to begin work toward replacing the last remaining treaty between the two countries limiting nuclear weapons.

Texas gov. signs law prohibiting gvmnt from closing places of worship » Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed a bill into law that bars the government from ordering houses of worship to close.

It comes roughly one year after Abbott issued an executive order that closed many businesses and organizations deemed nonessential. That included houses of worship.

Some faith leaders then sued. They urged the governor to designate churches as essential. Shortly thereafter, he relented and reversed the order.

In a tweet, Abbott said “I just signed a law that prohibits any government agency or public official from issuing an order that closes places of worship.”

He added, “The First Amendment right to freedom of religion shall never be infringed.”

Senate bill would make Juneteenth a federal holiday » Lawmakers just sent a bill to President Biden’s desk that would create a new federal holiday. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The House overwhelmingly approved a bill last night that had already passed in the Senate. It would make the annual Juneteenth celebration the nation’s 12th federal holiday.

Juneteenth is already a holiday or an official observance of the day in many states, marked each year on June 19th. It commemorates the day when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free from slavery.

Confederate soldiers surrendered in April 1865, but word didn’t reach slaves in the South until June 19th. That’s when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to Galveston, Texas nearly two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Under the legislation, the federal holiday would be known as Juneteenth National Independence Day.

President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

SBC attendees approve sex abuse investigation » Delegates gathered at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention said they had some doubts about the ability of the denomination’s leaders to oversee a probe of how they handled sex abuse claims.

Attendees voted instead to have newly elected SBC President Ed Litton appoint a task force. The panel would oversee an independent inquiry into allegations that members of the Executive Committee stood in the way of reforms and mistreated sexual abuse survivors.

The Executive Committee has agreed to hire an outside firm to investigate the allegations. But critics said an outside group should hold the committee accountable for whatever that investigation turns up.

Israeli airstrike hits militant sites in Gaza » Israeli airstrikes hit militant sites in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the first since a May 21st ceasefire. WORLD’s Sarah Schweinsberg has that story.

SARAH SCHWEINSBERG, REPORTER: The airstrikes followed several arson attacks by Palestinians who launched incendiary balloons into southern Israel. The balloons sparked several blazes in parched farmland.

The Palestinians launched their attacks after Israeli nationalists paraded through east Jerusalem. Palestinians consider the parade a provocation.

The Israeli army said its strikes targeted facilities used by Hamas militants for meetings to plan attacks. There were no reports of injuries.

After the airstrikes, masked Palestinians sent more balloons, laden with fuses and flaming rags, into Israel.

The flare-up of tensions is testing Israel’s new government, which took office early this week.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Sarah Schweinsberg.

I'm Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.

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