Photos: AFP/Getty Images
Considerably better-than-expected numbers
Good news for many still-foundering businesses
Surprising no one, Putin gets his way again
Russian voters approved changes to the constitution that will allow President Vladimir Putin to potentially hold power until 2036, but the weeklong plebiscite that concluded Wednesday was tarnished by widespread reports of pressure on voters and other irregularities.
With three-fourths of all precincts counted, 77.6% voted for the constitutional amendments, according to election officials.
For the first time in Russia, polls were kept open for a week to bolster turnout without increasing crowds casting ballots amid the coronavirus pandemic — a provision that Kremlin critics denounced as an extra tool to manipulate the outcome.
Yes, he’s still saying this after 127,000 dead
Above all, it’s about whether you look good
Who are these mythical “real people”?
The old Hong Kong may be vanishing quickly
The Hong Kong police moved swiftly on Wednesday to enforce China’s new national security rules with the first arrests under the law, as the city immediately felt the chilling effect of Beijing’s offensive to quash dissent in the semiautonomous territory.
The law was proving effective in tamping down the anti-government demonstrations that have wracked Hong Kong for more than a year. On Wednesday, the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese control — usually observed by huge pro-democracy marches — a scattered crowd of thousands protested, only to be corralled by the police and risk arrest for crimes that did not exist a day earlier.
Deploying pepper spray and water cannons to force protesters off the streets, the police arrested more than 300 people, including at least nine over new offenses created by the security law that takes aim at political activity challenging Beijing. One of the nine was a 15-year-old girl waving a Hong Kong independence flag, the police said.
Things are really not getting better in Arizona
This probably wasn’t what Trump imagined when he won
Things are not improving in Texas
Medicaid expansion gets through in Oklahoma, barely
Dramatic revisions from May make the economic picture look brighter
Companies in June continued to bring workers back from their pandemic furlough as the national economy slowly came back to life.
Private payrolls grew by 2.369 million for the month, a bit lower than the 2.5 million expectation from economists surveyed by Dow Jones, according to a report Wednesday from ADP and Moody’s Analytics.
The total actually represented a decline from the previous month, which saw a dramatic upward revision to 3.065 million. ADP initially said May saw a loss of 2.76 million. The firm did not immediately explain the massive shift.
Some good news
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