Thursday morning news: June 20, 2024

SOUND: [Pyongyang ceremony]

MARK MELLINGER, NEWS ANCHOR: Russia-North Korea alliance » Russia and North Korea have signed a new mutual defense pact.

The two countries’ leaders, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, announced the agreement from Pyongyang yesterday. Under their new pact, if either country is attacked, the other will come to its aid.

PUTIN: [Speaking Russian]

Putin saying both countries are fighting what he calls the neo-colonial practices of the United States and its satellites.

KIM JONG UN: [Speaking Korean]

Speaking there, Kim Jong Un calls Russia a powerful country and says North Korea is immensely proud of their strategic partnership.

NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg says Western governments should be concerned.

STOLTENBERG: We need to be aware of that authoritarian powers are aligning more and more and they are supporting each other in a way that we haven't seen before.

Stoltenberg went on to say this new alliance makes NATO more important than ever.

In just a few minutes, former White House National Security Council official Will Inboden will join Myrna and Mary to further unpack the implications of this alliance.

AUDIO: [Nasrallah]

Israel latest: Internal flap, Hezbollah » Tough talk from the leader of Hezbollah, claiming his terror group has new weapons and intelligence capabilities to target critical positions inside Israel in an all-out war.

He also claims Hezbollah has more than 100,000 fighters ready to go.

A U.S. envoy has been in the Middle East this week, trying to ease tensions as Israel prepares to possibly add a major war with Hezbollah to the one it’s already fighting with Hamas in Gaza.

Meantime, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken won’t shed light on closed-door talks with Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly slammed the Biden Administration for withholding weapons.

BLINKEN: I’m not going to talk about what we said in diplomatic conversations. I can just say, again, that we have a commitment to make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against a whole variety of threats.

There are also new signs of internal conflict among Israeli leaders. The Israeli army’s chief spokesman on Wednesday questioned Netanyahu’s stated goal of destroying Hamas in Gaza, saying Hamas is an idea and a party and whoever thinks we can eliminate Hamas is wrong.

U.S. sends $360 million to Taiwan » The U.S. is bolstering Taiwan’s ability to defend itself from China, sending several hundred million dollars’ worth of weapons. WORLD’s Travis Kircher has more.

TRAVIS KIRCHER: The U.S. State Department says the Biden administration approved a new 360 million-dollar weapons sale to Taiwan earlier this week.

Those weapons are expected to include missile equipment, as well as hundreds of long-range drones armed with warheads.

The State Department says the sale will serve U-S national security interests by helping Taiwan modernize its armed forces…and improve its ability to defend itself.

But the move is expected to anger China.

Beijing considers Taiwan to be Chinese territory and has threatened to consolidate it by force, if necessary.

For WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher.

Louisiana 10 Commandments law » Louisiana has become the first state to require the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom.

Governor Jeff Landry:

LANDRY: If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.

Starting next year, the new law requires poster-sized displays in large, easily readable font across all public classrooms, including universities.

It also permits the display of other historical documents like the Declaration of Independence.

Opponents say they’ll challenge the law’s constitutionality in court, claiming it violates the First Amendment’s establishment clause. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Kentucky for just that reason.

Deepfakes bill » A proposed bill is taking aim at a new kind of pornography.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar are co-sponsoring the Take It Down Now Act.

Cruz says this bill would create tough criminal penalties for people who distribute so-called deep-fake pornography.

That’s porn created through the use of artificial intelligence using the likenesses of specific people.

CRUZ: If you post or share non-consensual intimate images – either real images, or deep-fakes – then it’s a crime. It’s a felony punishable by up to two years in prison if the victim is an adult, and up to three years in prison if the victim is a child.

The bill would also require social media companies to remove deep-fake pornography within 48 hours after they’re notified of its existence.

Heat wave » From the Midwest to the Northeast, more than 70 million Americans are trying to keep cool amid extreme heat.

One man from California and his family are trading one set of sweltering conditions for another as they tour New York City.

Besides wearing hats, staying hydrated, and carrying an umbrella, here’s what they’re doing to stay safe.

ROB GARDUNO: Depending on where the sun’s hitting, we’ll keep in the shade of the buildings as we’re walking through and kind of traversing Manhattan. And we’re taking frequent breaks, just like this one. So in the cool shade, there’s a nice little cool breeze.

Into the weekend, forecasters say temperatures in some spots will continue to climb well into the 90s, and could reach triple digits.

Factoring in the heat index, a lot of cities will at least feel hotter than 100 degrees.

I’m Mark Mellinger.

Straight ahead: Fresh support and funds for Ukraine. Plus, a child prodigy playing the church organ.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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