Tuesday morning news - June 29, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Iraq condemns U.S. airstrikes along Iraq-Syria border » The government of Iraq is condemning U.S. airstrikes within its borders this week, calling them a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.

The Pentagon says the strikes targeted “facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups” near the Iraq-Syria border.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken acknowledged Baghdad’s concerns, but said the operation was a defensive measure.

BLINKEN: Given these ongoing attacks that you referred to by Iran-backed groups targeting our interests in Iraq, he directed further military action—we’ve taken action previously—to disrupt and deter these attacks.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the militias were using the facilities to launch drone attacks against American troops in Iraq.

Kirby said U.S. forces targeted three facilities that militants were using both for operations and for storing and shipping weapons.

Militants in Iraq have vowed revenge.

Sunday's operation followed earlier airstrikes against Iran-backed militias in the border region back in February.

Search for survivors in condo collapse continues » Rescue workers in South Florida say they still hope to find more survivors amid the wreckage of a collapsed condo tower. First responders and volunteers labored in the town of Surfside for a fifth day on Monday, sifting through the rubble, largely by hand.

Miami-Dade County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz said for the families of the missing, the wait is agonizing.

DIAZ: It is very difficult to know that your loved one could still be alive and have the hope to believe that, and at the same time, just sit there and wait for that information to get to you.

But the search is a painstaking process. Underscoring the danger, a rescuer tumbled 25 feet down the pile on Sunday.

The official death toll now stands at 10 after officials recovered another body on Monday. More than 150 people are still missing.

U.S. Supreme Court sidesteps transgender case » A Virginia school board Monday lost its fight to keep single-sex restrooms and locker rooms divided between biological girls and boys. That as the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear its appeal. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Gavin Grimm, born female, began identifying as a male while attending high school in Gloucester County, Va. The principal initially allowed Grimm to use the boys restroom, but school policy required students to use facilities according to their biological sex. The school gave Grimm the option of a single-stall restroom, but Grimm sued for sex discrimination in 2015. Lower courts ruled in favor of Grimm in 2019 and 2020. And on Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear the school board’s appeal.

Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would have heard the case.

The justices did not give a reason, but historically, the Supreme Court only gets involved in cases in which appellate circuits disagree.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Biden works to nail down infrastructure deal » President Biden is redoubling efforts to push a bipartisan infrastructure deal across the finish line. The White House plans a public push highlighting the potential benefits for the economy.

PSAKI: To make the case to the American people, to the public, about how officials are working together to deliver for them.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki heard there.

But just days after the president announced that he’d reached an agreement with a group of Republican lawmakers that pact appeared shaky.

President Biden stripped hundreds of billions in spending from his proposal to get Republicans on board. But Democrats are not abandoning those spending measures. They plan to simply move them, attaching them to a different bill.

Some top Democrats have said without that separate legislation also passing, they wouldn’t agree to a bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Monday ...

MCCONNELL: What I’m asking the president to do is call on the majority leader and the speaker to deal with these issues separately.

Republicans say if Democrats insist on tying one bill to another, the infrastructure deal isn't really a bipartisan compromise, but a shell game.

The president says he is willing to sign a bipartisan bill into law, even if Democrats are unable to pass a separate spending bill.

S.Africa battling COVID-19 surge » COVID-19 cases are surging in South Africa. The government there has announced a new round of pandemic lockdowns and Australia may be next. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has that story.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: The delta variant, first discovered in India, appears to be driving South Africa’s recent spike in new cases.

That prompted new restrictions this week, including a ban on alcohol sales and an extended nightly curfew.

South Africa recorded more than 15,000 new cases on Sunday.

In the country’s most populous province of Gauteng, hospitals are running short of COVID-19 beds.

Only about 1 percent of South Africans are fully vaccinated.

Meantime, in Australia, health officials warn the country could be on the cusp of another national surge also fueled by the delta variant.

Sydney, the country’s biggest city, is now under lockdown with stay-at-home orders in place until at least July 9th.

Only about five percent of Australians are fully vaccinated.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

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.