Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including President Biden announced a new trade framework with 12 Indo-Pacific countries; The Ukraine war continued to rage with Russian forces making small gains in Donbas; The Supreme Court sided unanimously with a Taco Bell worker suing the company over unpaid overtime, and more.

National

Announcing trade pact to counteract China, Biden says recession is avoidable

President Joe Biden on Monday announced a new trade framework with 12 Indo-Pacific countries directed at countering China’s economic dominance in its region but gave little insight as to how it will address concerns about rising inflation.

U.S. President Joe Biden, left, attends a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo on Monday, May 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Former Taco Bell employee sways justices on arbitration challenge

Getting rid of a special federal court rule that favors arbitration agreements, the Supreme Court sided unanimously Monday with a Taco Bell worker suing the company over unpaid overtime.

(Rattatast/Wikipedia Commons via Courthouse News)

High court shuts down Arizona death row inmates fighting attorney errors

The Supreme Court ruled Monday against two Arizona men on death row who say there is new evidence that proves the performance at trial by their lawyers was constitutionally deficient.

Visitors walk outside the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 21, 2022. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

No easy answers for US tornado trends

Scientists don’t yet fully understand how tornadoes form, let alone how climate change is affecting them.

A tornado passes southeast of Wichita, Kansas, on April 29, 2022. (Amy Leiker /The Wichita Eagle via AP)

International

As war rages in Ukraine, Biden says US will defend Taiwan against China

In a brazen policy shift, U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday said the United States would commit its military to defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by China, raising the stakes in what many see as a new Cold War between the United States and its allies and the deepening alliance of China and Russia.

Cars pass by destroyed Russian tanks in a recent battle against Ukrainians in the village of Dmytrivka, Ukraine, close to Kyiv, on Monday, May 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Science

Researchers discover potential ‘anti-cancer’ chemical in sea corals

After searching for more than two decades, scientists have uncovered the source of a natural chemical compound that may help treat cancer patients: sea corals.

Soft corals make thousands of drug-like compounds that could work as anti-inflammatory agents, antibiotics, anti-cancer therapeutics, and more. (Credit: Bailey Miller)

Teens measure Earth’s magnetic field from space

Understanding Earth doesn’t always require expensive equipment. A group of Portuguese high school students who were able to use a tiny, inexpensive computer to measure Earth’s magnetic field have proven space exploration can be done on a budget.

The Raspberry Pi computer together with the Sense Hat add-on board, used to measure the magnetic field. Photo by Nuno Barros e Sá.

In deciding when to take flight, jackdaws ‘vote’

The call of the jackdaws in the early hours of the morning is “democracy” at work.

Jackdaws roosting. (Photo by Jolle Jolles)

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