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Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Reformist Soviet Leader, Is Dead at 91 Mikhail S. Gorbachev, whose rise to power in the Soviet Union set in motion a series of revolutionary changes that transformed the map of Europe and ended the Cold War that had threatened the world with nuclear annihilation, has died in Moscow. He was 91. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/30/world/europe/mikhail-gorbachev-dead.html

F.B.I. Searches Trump’s Home in Florida Former President Donald J. Trump said on Monday that the F.B.I. had searched his Palm Beach, Fla., home and had broken open a safe — an account that, if accurate, would be a dramatic escalation in the various investigations into the former president. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/08/us/politics/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago.html

Sri Lanka President, PM to Resign After Tumultuous Protests Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister agreed to resign Saturday after the country’s most chaotic day in months of political turmoil, with protesters storming both officials’ homes and setting fire to one of the buildings in a rage over the nation’s severe economic crisis. https://apnews.com/article/asia-economy-sri-lanka-074d8194c64572dc80118f88a01df1c2

Japan’s Ex-Leader Shinzo Abe Assassinated During a Speech Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated Friday on a street in western Japan by a gunman who opened fire on him from behind as he delivered a campaign speech — an attack that stunned the nation with some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere. https://apnews.com/article/elections-japan-shinzo-abe-22ec2248d92304deb9cc46b2142402d2

One Scandal Too Many: British PM Boris Johnson Resigns Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation Thursday amid a mass revolt by top members of his government, marking an end to three tumultuous years in power in which he brazenly bent and sometimes broke the rules of British politics. https://apnews.com/article/boris-johnson-london-michael-gove-60da3c4b29a4e9c93c7db9f53034ad0e

Supreme Court Has Voted to Overturn Abortion Rights, Draft Opinion Shows The Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court…

19 Children, 2 Teachers Killed in Texas Elementary School Shooting At least 19 children and two teachers were killed Tuesday when a gunman opened fire in a Texas elementary school, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The suspected shooter, who might have had a handgun and a rifle, was also killed when law enforcement confronted him at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 83 miles west of San Antonio, Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-respond-active-shooter-texas-elementary-school-rcna30339

Black Hole: First Picture of Milky Way Monster Known as Sagittarius A*, the object is a staggering four million times the mass of our Sun. What you see is a central dark region where the hole resides, circled by the light coming from super-heated gas accelerated by immense gravitational forces. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61412463

Supreme Court Has Voted to Overturn Abortion Rights, Draft Opinion Shows The Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court and obtained by POLITICO. The draft opinion is a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision – Planned Parenthood v. Casey – that largely maintained the right. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473

Senate Confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson to Supreme Court in Historic Vote Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black woman to be elevated to the Supreme Court when the Democratic-controlled Senate on Thursday confirmed President Joe Biden’s pick. The final vote was 53 to 47, with all 50 Democratic caucus members supporting Jackson, joined by Republican Sens. Susan Collins, of Maine, Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, and Mitt Romney, of Utah. Vice President Kamala Harris presided over the vote. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/senate-poised-confirm-ketanji-brown-jackson-supreme-court-rcna23283

Putin Announces Start to ‘Military Operation’ Against Ukraine President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia declared the start of a “special military operation” in Ukraine on Thursday, after months of speculation about Russia’s intentions as it massed tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine’s border. Addressing his nation in a televised speech broadcast just before 6 a.m. Thursday, Mr. Putin said his goal was to “demilitarize” but not occupy the country. Minutes later, large explosions were visible near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and blasts were reported in Kyiv, the capital, and other parts of the country. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/world/europe/ukraine-russia-invasion.html

Betty White, TV’s Golden Girl, Dies at 99 Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, whether as a man-crazy TV hostess on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” or the loopy housemate on “The Golden Girls,” has died. She was 99. https://apnews.com/article/betty-white-dead-golden-girls-television-5818585387f6e5b4d5ea55ac380118aa