Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including Sweden and Finland submitted their official applications to join NATO; A New York court heard arguments over whether elephants are as autonomous as human beings and thus capable of being freed from zoo captivity via lawsuit; The White House held its first Covid-19 task force briefing in six weeks amid surging case counts, and more.

National

10th Circuit urged to revive challenge to hiking trails at nuclear bomb factory

A group of concerned Coloradans asked the 10th Circuit on Wednesday to revive a challenge to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed trail in the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, built around the site of a former nuclear weapon production facility.

The Boulder Flatirons stand in the background of the trailhead at the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge near Arvada Colorado. (Amanda Pampuro/CNS)

More shots, more funding: Biden back to basics as Covid-19 cases rise

The White House held its first Covid-19 task force briefing in six weeks on Wednesday, as the country grapples with the possibility that surging case counts and hospitalizations across the country will flow through the summer.

A nurse holds a vial of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, right, and a vial of the vaccine for adults, which has a different colored label, at a vaccination station in Jackson, Miss., on, Feb. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Regional

Habeas rights for elephants at heart of Bronx Zoo case

The New York Court of Appeals is wrestling with whether to break ground with a judgment that says Asian elephants are as autonomous as human beings and thus capable of being freed from zoo captivity via lawsuit.

An Asian elephant named Happy strolls inside the Bronx Zoo on Oct. 2, 2018. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Teen expelled over antisemitic Snapchat post urges 10th Circuit to revive case against school

A Denver teenager expelled from school after mimicking a Nazi meme on Snapchat asked the 10th Circuit on Wednesday to revive his lawsuit against the school because the post was created off campus.

A screenshot of a Snap created by teen who was later expelled from his high school over the post. (Image via Courthouse News)

International

Sweden and Finland formally apply for NATO membership

Sweden and Finland have formally submitted their official applications to join NATO.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg displays Sweden and Finland’s applications for membership in the military alliance in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday May 18, 2022. (Johanna Geron, Pool via AP)

Mariupol falls to Russia as Ukrainians surrender at Azovstal

Russia said on Wednesday that more than 900 Ukrainian soldiers inside the Azovstal steelworks plant in Mariupol have surrendered, giving Moscow a symbolic victory after nearly three months of a war that has seen Russian forces repeatedly pushed back.

A Russian military helicopter flies over buses with Ukrainian servicemen evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant traveling to a prison in territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists on Tuesday, May 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)

Four countries sign deal to bring green energy to half of EU citizens by 2050

Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium signed a declaration pledging to build wind farms in the North Sea in an effort to make the EU independent from Russian energy.

Special Kosovo court issues first verdict, finding 2 guilty of witness tampering

Two leaders of a war veterans’ association became the first Wednesday to be convicted by a special court created to prosecute crimes during Kosovo’s fight for independence in the late 1990s.

Hysni Gucati, head of the War Veterans Organization of the Kosovo Liberation Army, looks at a photo of his co-fighter former Kosovo Liberation Army commander Salih Mustafa after news of his arrest, during a Sept. 24, 2020, interview in Pristina. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

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