Tuesday morning news - June 15, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington.

Biden warns Russia ahead of meeting with Putin » President Biden issued a warning to Moscow on Monday as he prepares to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week.

BIDEN: I’m not looking for conflict with Russia, but that we will respond if Russia continues its harmful activities. And we will not fail to defend the transatlantic alliance or stand up for democratic values.

The president heard there speaking in Brussels during his first NATO summit as commander in chief. He talked about the importance of upholding NATO's Article 5, which states that an attack on one member is an attack on them all.

Biden and Putin are slated to meet face to face tomorrow in Geneva. President Biden is likely to voice disapproval of the Kremlin’s crackdown on Putin’s political opponents, particularly the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the outlawing of Navalny’s organizations.

But in an interview Monday, Putin criticized the United States, claiming those arrested for rioting at the U.S. Capitol in January are being subjected to “persecution for political opinions.”

NATO designates China a global security challenge » Meantime, NATO leaders called out China on Monday, declaring the communist country a constant security challenge to that alliance.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg added…

STOLTENBERG: Leaders agreed that we need to address said challenges together as an alliance and that we need to engage with China to defend our security interests.

NATO said the Chinese are working to undermine global order. That message was in sync with President Biden’s warnings about China’s trade, military and human rights practices.

The 30 heads of state and government avoided calling China a rival. But they did sound alarms about the communist government’s “coercive policies” its use of disinformation, and the way it’s modernizing its armed forces.

NATO leaders also voiced concerns about Russia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said—her words—“when you look at the cyber threats, the hybrid threats, when you look at the cooperation between Russia and China, you can’t just ignore China.”

But she added that it was important to “find the right balance” as China is also a partner on many issues.

Top national security official at DOJ resigns amid controversy » The Justice Department’s top national security official is resigning after revelations that the department secretly seized records from Democrats and members of the media. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: John Demers is expected to leave the Department of Justice by the end of next week. He is one of the few Trump appointees to stay on under the Biden administration.

A source told the Associated Press that Demers had planned for weeks to leave the department by the end of June. But his departure comes amid questions about what he knew about the DOJ’s efforts to secretly seize the phone data from House Democrats and reporters as part of investigations into media leaks.

The department's inspector general has already launched an investigation.

News emerged last week that the Justice Department had secretly subpoenaed Apple for metadata from House Intel Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and another Democratic member in 2018.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Monday that the DOJ will tighten its rules around obtaining records from members of Congress.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Heat wave slams western U.S. » Forecasters are warning of dangerous, record-high temperatures across much of the West this week.

Mark Chenard with the National Weather Service says records will likely fall from the southern border all the way up to Montana. He said just as impressive as the stifling heat is the expected length of the heat wave.

CHENARD: It’s not just one day of records, but it’s several days in a row of near-record to record temperatures across the region.

Phoenix is expected to hit 118 degrees, Las Vegas 116. And Needles, Calif., south of Vegas could hit 121 degrees.

The heat wave comes even as the official start of summer is still five days away.

Novavax: Study shows new COVID-19 vaccine save, effective » Another COVID-19 vaccine could hit the market soon. A major vaccine maker says its shots are proving to be highly effective against the disease, including variants. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has that story.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: Novavax announced Monday that a North American study of nearly 30,000 people has shown the two-shot vaccine to be safe and about 90 percent effective overall. That would put it roughly on par with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

The United States now has more than enough doses to go around. But globally the need for more shots remains critical.

And the Novavax vaccine, which is easy to store and ship, could play a big role in boosting supplies in poor parts of the world.

But the company has been plagued by shortages of raw-materials, which has slowed down production. It now plans to seek authorization for the shots in America, Europe and elsewhere by the end of September. By that point, Novavax expects to be producing 100 million doses a month.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

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

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