Thursday morning news - June 30, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

NATO invites Finland and Sweden to join the alliance » Finland and Sweden are officially set to join NATO. The world’s most powerful military alliance formally gave its stamp of approval Wednesday during its summit in Madrid.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg:

STOLTENBERG: We will demonstrate that NATO’s door remains open by inviting Finland and Sweden to join our alliance.

For generations, the countries have kept a policy of military neutrality. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine quickly shifted their thinking. Finland shares an 800-mile border with Russia.

Wednesday’s announcement came one day after Turkey lifted its objections to the Nordic nations joining the alliance.

And Stoltenberg says Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has backfired.

STOLTENBERG: Now, President Putin is getting more NATO on its borders. So what he gets is the opposite of what he actually demanded, and that was for NATO to close its doors.

U.S. boosting military presence in Europe amid Russia threat » Speaking of things Putin does not want to hear, President Biden says the United States will beef up its military presence in Europe.

Biden, speaking in Madrid Wednesday announced a permanent U.S. garrison in Poland, and…

BIDEN: We are going to send two additional F-35 squadrons to the UK and station additional air defense and other capabilities in Germany and in Italy.

The United States is preparing to keep 100,000 troops in Europe for the “foreseeable future.” That’s up from 80,000 before the war in Ukraine.

U.S. economy slipped 1.6% to start year » The U.S. economy shrank in the first three months of this year.

That’s the word from the federal government, which downgraded its previous estimate for the quarter. It now says the economy contracted at a 1.6 percent annual pace.

That comes as soaring inflation continues to shake consumer confidence.

GDP—gross domestic product—measures the country’s economic output. And this was the first drop in GDP since the middle of 2020 when the pandemic triggered a recession.

But many analysts say the negative GDP number probably doesn’t signal the start of a recession. Most economists expect growth to resume later this year.

Cross-state abortion arrangements » Abortion centers throughout the United States are sending women across state lines to get abortions. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: New York has created a fund to help women from out-of-state to get abortions. It would even pay for their travel.

But New York Republicans say, aside from the ethical concerns, paying for airfare and hotels would cost the state untold millions of dollars. They’ve introduced a bill to block the state from funding travel.

Other states are also working to become “sanctuaries” for abortion.

California passed a bill to fund the procedure once a woman is in the state, though it would not fund travel to California.

Even Mexico is setting up makeshift abortion centers just across the U.S. southern border.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Migrant death update, Texas decries immigration policy » In Texas, authorities have raised the migrant death toll from a human smuggling tragedy to 53. That after two more people died on Wednesday.

Police this week found 67 migrants trapped in an abandoned tractor-trailer near San Antonio.

Police later arrested the driver and two other people.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said his state will put measures in place to try to prevent this from happening again.

ABBOTT: Texas is going to add additional truck checkpoints.

Abbott again blasted the Biden administration for policies he says are creating an unprecedented sustained surge of migrants at the border.

Border officials made nearly a quarter-of-a-million arrests last month alone.

Ghislaine Maxwell and R. Kelly sentencing » R&B singer R. Kelly will spend decades behind bars. A federal court in New York Wednesday sentenced him to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing women and girls.

Gloria Allred, attorney for the victims, says no one can undo the harm his victims suffered.

ALLRED: But at least it's time for Mr. Kelly to be accountable for what he's done.

In a separate case on Tuesday, a federal court sentenced Ghrislane Maxwell to 20 years in prison. A jury convicted her of trafficking underage girls on behalf of the late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

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

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.