Tuesday morning news - June 7, 2022

Zelenskyy visits battlefront in eastern Ukraine » Ukraine’s president visited the front line of the war against Russian invaders on Monday.

ZELENSKYY (Ukrainian): [in and under though the next few paragraphs]

In the town of Zaporizhzhia … Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with troops, local leaders, and the mayors of some other occupied cities in the region.

In a video address, he said, “The enemy wants to occupy” the city.

The Zaporizhzhia region, with a population of 1.6 million, is one of the biggest industrial hubs of Ukraine’s southeast. In the south, Russia has already seized the large Ukrainian cities of Kherson and Mariupol.

Zelenskyy said peace talks with Russia stood at—quote—“level zero.”

Meantime, in France, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, talked about Ukraine’s struggle for freedom … on the 78th anniversary of the D-Day landing.

MILLEY: The fight for Ukraine is about honoring these veterans of World War II. It’s about maintaining the so-called global rules-based international order, the order that was established by the dead that are buried here.

Many World War II veterans and other visitors attended the Normandy commemoration for the first time in a few years … after missing previous ceremonies due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Massive caravan prepares for trek to U.S. border » A migrant caravan estimated at about 11,000 people has gathered in southern Mexico … preparing for a long and dangerous walk to the United States. And some officials expect the number of people in that caravan to swell to 15,000 … possibly the largest ever recorded in Mexico.

This comes as Border Patrol officials are already overwhelmed. In April, Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 234,000 apprehensions. That was the largest monthly figure recorded in U.S. history.

Chad Wolf is the former acting director of the Department of Homeland Security.

He said if a massive caravan chooses to cross at a port of entry, “It will stop commerce. It will stop legal trade and travel” at that port of entry.

WOLF: But probably the most dangerous is if they choose to cross in the desert or across the river between a port of entry. And what does that do to Border Patrol resources? We’re not going to be able to apprehend all of those individuals and it’s a very dangerous journey.

Wolf and many Republicans on Capitol Hill are calling on the Biden administration to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy.

They’re also decrying efforts by the administration to end Title 42 restrictions. That’s a pandemic measure that allows the government to limit who can enter the country.

Gas prices hit another record high » Another day, another record high for gas prices. The national average is now up for $4.87 a gallon.

This driver in Detroit said he’s feeling the sticker shock.

SOUND (MOS): It’s too high here, bro I can’t even afford to get something to eat nowadays.

Patrick De Haan with Gasbuddy.com explained what’s driving spiraling prices.

DE HAAN: Oil prices have continued to push gasoline prices up. Demand for gasoline is up. Supply remains weakened, partially due to the fact that refineries have closed over the past few years.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said gas prices and inflation generally remain a top priority for the president.

PIERRE: This is something that everyone is feeling across the globe. But we understand that these gas prices, including food prices, in particular, those two things … is hurting families.

The lowest average price in the country are currently found in Georgia … only—if I can use that word—$4.29 a gallon. On the other end, Californians are paying $6.34 a gallon.

Musk threatens to walk away from Twitter purchase » Elon Musk is threatening to walk away from his $44 billion bid to buy Twitter. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has that story.

JS: The billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has expressed concern that many of Twitters users are fake … not real human beings, but spam bot accounts.

And he has accused Twitter of refusing to give him information about those spam bot accounts.

Lawyers for Musk say he has repeatedly asked Twitter to provide information … that will allow him to determine how many of the company’s nearly 230 million accounts are fake.

Musk believes the company is resisting his information rights under the April merger agreement. And he is now threatening to pull his purchase offer if Twitter does not comply.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher. 

Boris Johnson survives no-confidence vote » British Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a no-confidence vote on Monday … securing enough support from his Conservative Party to remain in office.

SOUND (vote NATS): The vote in favor of having confidence in Boris Johnson as leader was 211 votes, and the vote against was 148 votes. And therefore, I can announce that the Parliamentary party does have confidence.

The vote followed a scandal over social gatherings and parties that he and his staff held during the pandemic, flouting many COVID-19 restrictions imposed on the public.

After the vote, the prime minister expressed gratitude and called it a “very good result for the country.”

JOHNSON: I think it’s a convincing result, a decisive result. And what it means is that as a government, we can move on and focus on the stuff that really matters to people.

But some analysts say the substantial rebellion within the party leaves Johnson as a weakened leader with an uncertain future.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: state pro-life groups prepare for a possible end to Roe v. Wade.

Plus, the outrage of scams targeting the elderly.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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