Tuesday morning news - June 1, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

As Russia tensions simmer, NATO conducts massive war games » AUDIO: [Sound of F-35]

An F-35 fighter jet launched from the deck of a British aircraft carrier over the weekend as NATO allies conducted war games across Europe.

Some 9,000 troops, several warships, and dozens of aircraft took part in the exercises against the backdrop of rising tensions with Russia.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the drills are not a response to Russia’s recent troop buildup on its western border. He said these drills were planned a long time ago, but it sends an important message.

STOLTENBERG: That NATO is ready. NATO is there to defend all our allies. And this exercise sends a message about our ability to transport a large number of troops and equipment across the Atlantic, across Europe, and also to project maritime power.

Moscow responded to the drills by saying it will send at least 20 military units to its western border.

Russia’s decision last month to send thousands of troops to its border with Ukraine alarmed many in Europe. In 2014, NATO launched one of its biggest ever defense spending initiatives after Russian troops annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

China easing birth limits to cope with aging society » China’s ruling Communist Party said Monday it will ease birth limits to allow all couples to have three children instead of two. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: China has enforced birth limits since 1980 to restrain population growth. But now, the communist party wants to slow the rapid aging of its population.

The government worries that the number of working-age people is falling too fast while the share of citizens over age 65 is rising. That threatens China’s ambitions to supplant the United States as the world’s dominant economy.

With that in mind, Chinese ruler Xi Jinping decided to loosen restrictions to allow couples to have three children.

But simply loosening restrictions may not reverse the aging trend. In 2015, China eased restrictions that limited most couples to one child, allowing two children. But even after that change, the total number of births continued to fall.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Texas Democrats scuttle new GOP election bill » Texas Democrats staged a walkout of the state House of Representatives over the weekend to block new Republican-authored voting rules.

Democratic Representative Chris Turner told reporters on Monday...

TURNER: Democrats used the last tool available to us. We denied them the quorum that they need to pass this bill and we killed that bill.

The bill would, among other things, tighten rules on mail-in voting and block local officials from sending ballot applications to anyone who didn’t request one. It would also eliminate drive-thru voting and 24-hour polling centers—both of which were introduced in the Houston area last year.

Republicans called the scuttled rules changes reforms designed to protect the integrity of future elections.

Democrats charged that they were restrictions designed to discourage minorities from voting.

But their victory may be fleeting: Republican Gov. Greg Abbott quickly announced he would order a special session to finish the job.

New COVID-19 cases hit 14-month low » New cases of COVID-19 have fallen to a 14-month low. WORLD’s Paul Butler has that story.

PAUL BUTLER, REPORTER: A rolling 7-day average showed daily cases drop below 20,000. It was the first time that has happened since March of last year.

Deaths associated with COVID-19 have also hit a 14-month low.

That comes as more than half of all Americans have now received at least one vaccine dose. Above the age of 12, nearly 60 percent of Americans have had a least one jab.

And a new poll suggests the number of Americans who say they will never get a COVID-19 vaccine has dropped.

A Yahoo News/YouGov poll released on Friday surveyed about 1,600 U.S. adults. Just 18 percent of respondents said they definitely won’t get the shot.

Health experts say to halt the spread of the virus 70 to 85 percent of the population will have to develop immunity, either through a vaccine or infection.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

Tulsa marks centennial of race massacre » Mourners will gather in Tulsa, Oklahoma today to remember those killed in a race massacre 100 years ago.

They’ll walk the same path on which black residents of Tulsa fled an attack by an armed mob a century earlier.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit today for a ceremony with local leaders.

On May 31, 1921, a mob of white people gathered outside the Tulsa jail, where police held a black 19-year-old accused of assaulting a white teenage girl. Concerned the crowd would kidnap and lynch the suspect, two dozen armed black men went to the jail, too. The groups clashed, and the violence spread. Over 18 hours, white rioters burned and destroyed Greenwood, Tulsa’s affluent black neighborhood. The estimated number of people killed ranges from dozens to 300.

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

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