U.S. employers added 147,000 jobs in June as the American labor market continues to show surprising resilience despite uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s economic policies. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1% from 4.2% in May, the Labor Department said Thursday. Hiring rose modestly from a revised 144,000 in May and beat economists expectations of fewer than 118,000 new jobs and a rise in the unemployment rate.
The man accused of killing former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, is due back in court after a week's delay. Prosecutors allege 57-year-old Vance Boelter carried out the June 14 attacks disguised as a police officer. Authorities say he also targeted other Democrats. Boelter's lawyer argued that he'd been sleep-deprived due to harsh jail conditions, and won a delay in proceedings last week. Boelter could face the federal death penalty, though no decision has been made. The attacks have been described as a political assassination and a threat to democracy.
Police and firefighters are responding reports of a shooting at a mall in Savannah, Georgia. Police say multiple people are injured and investigations are ongoing.
Stay with SNC for updates on this developing story.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had a "substantial" phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron on the Iran-Israel conflict and Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, the first such exchange between the two leaders since September 2022.
In Paris, Macron's office said the call lasted two hours and that the French leader had called for a ceasefire in Ukraine and the start of negotiations on ending the conflict.
A French diplomatic source said Macron had talked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before and after his call with Putin to brief him on the talks. Macron also talked to U.S. President Donald Trump about the exchange.
According to the Kremlin press service, Putin said it was necessary to respect Iran's right to the peaceful development of nuclear energy as well as its continued compliance with its obligations under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
The French president's office said Macron, who sees the Iranian nuclear threat as sufficiently serious to justify the involvement of all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, had also stressed the need for Iran to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran's parliament approved a bill last month to suspend cooperation with the IAEA, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, after Israel and the United States bombed Iran's nuclear sites, aiming to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Iran has denied seeking one.
Macron "expressed his determination to seek a diplomatic solution that would lead to a lasting and rigorous resolution of the nuclear issue, the question of Iran's missiles, and its role in the region," his office said, adding that the two leaders had decided to "coordinate" their efforts.
France and Russia are both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.
On Ukraine, Putin reiterated his position to Macron that the war was "a direct consequence of the West's policy," which he said had "ignored Russia's security interests" over the past few years.
Any possible peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine should have a "comprehensive and long-term character" and be based on "new territorial realities," the Kremlin quoted Putin as saying.
Putin has previously said Ukraine must accept Russia's annexation of swaths of its territory as part of any peace deal.
Macron has said Ukraine alone should decide on whether or not to accept territorial concessions.
During Tuesday's call, Macron's office said, "the president emphasized France's unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
Macron and Putin aim to continue their discussions on Ukraine and Iran, the French president's office said.
Macron and Putin held regular discussions around the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which was criticized by some European allies, with Macron also visiting Putin in Russia shortly before the invasion in February 2022.
The U.S. is halting some shipments of weapons to Ukraine amid concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much. The munitions were previously promised to Ukraine under the Biden administration to aid its defenses during the more than three-year-old war. The pause reflects a new set of priorities under President Donald Trump. A U.S. official says a Pentagon review determined that stocks were too low on some weapons previously pledged, so pending shipments of some items won’t be sent. A White House spokesperson said the decision was made “following a review of our nation's military support and assistance to other countries across the globe.” The Pentagon's top policy adviser stressed the need to keep “preserving U.S. forces’ readiness.”
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has struck down the state’s 176-year-old abortion ban. The court’s liberal majority ruled 4-3 on Wednesday that the ban is no longer valid because newer abortion restrictions superseded it. State lawmakers adopted the total ban in 1849. It was in effect until 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nullified it, and was never repealed. Conservatives argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe reactivated the prohibition. Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul sued, arguing that a 1985 state law that prohibits abortions after viability essentially repealed the ban.
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