A memorial for a glacier? Yes, indeed. A plaque memorializing Okjökull, the first Icelandic glacier lost to climate change, will be installed next month.
Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. (You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)
1. Budget agreement
Washington won’t have to worry about a fiscal crisis, at least for two years. President Trump and congressional leaders reached a two-year budget agreement which suspends the debt ceiling until July 2021 and eliminates the budget caps put into place in 2011. The agreement, which still has to pass Congress and then be signed into law, pushes the political battle over looming spending cuts and the debt ceiling deadline well past next year’s elections. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN all sides wanted to get a deal done to avoid a stock market collapse and avert the fiscal fallout that would come if the debt ceiling wasn’t raised. Republicans are happy because they’ll get increased spending for defense, while Democrats are pleased because they’ll get more money for domestic programs.
2. UK prime minister
Britain should know who its next prime minister will be soon. The results of the Conservative party leader election will be announced later today. The winner of that race will not only lead the party but also replace Theresa May as prime minister. Pro-Brexit firebrand Boris Johnson is the favorite to win the job. Johnson, a former mayor of London, has been called one of the most divisive politicians of his generation. And he’s seen by many as the man who most influenced the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. Click here to read more about him.
3. Venezuela blackout
The power is out — again — in Venezuela. It’s the fourth nationwide blackout in the South American country this year. Officials are blaming it on a hostile “electromagnetic attack,” but the exact cause of the outage remains unclear at this point. Power was restored to Caracas early this morning, the government said. The outages are exacerbating a broader political crisis that has gripped the country for years. Runaway inflation and food scarcity has crippled Venezuela, with tens of thousands leaving the country in a mass exodus.
4. Canada deaths
Police in Canada say there might be a connection between the killing of a young couple and the disappearance of two teens in the same region of British Columbia. The couple — American Chynna Deese, 24, and her Australian boyfriend Lucas Fowler, 23 — were found shot to death last week on a highway. Police have been searching for the two missing teens — Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18 — since Friday, after their car was found burning on the side of a road. (And while investigating the fire, police found the body of a man more than a mile away.) Police said it’s unusual for investigators in northern British Columbia to have two “complex and dynamic” cases at once.
5. Malaria
Here are two words you don’t want to hear in connection with malaria: drug resistant. A pair of new studies say drug-resistant strains of the disease are indeed spreading through Southeast Asia, and that’s raising fears of a “potential global health emergency.” A strain that’s resistant to multiple drugs has evolved and mutated into several new subgroups, the studies say. They have been found in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The strains have rendered a widely-used drug essentially ineffective, leading to treatment failures at “alarmingly high rates.” The new findings come as countries and health experts struggle to fight the parasitic disease. There have been some successes — Algeria and Argentina were declared malaria-free in May — but in other places, cases have been rising significantly.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
RIP, Art
Art Neville was more than just one of the founding members of the Neville Brothers. He was a New Orleans music icon. Hedied yesterday at age 81.
Won’t you be my neighbor?
The first trailer for the upcoming Fred Rogers biopic is out, and it proves that Tom Hanks is absolutely perfect as Mister Rogers.
Crazy crash
He had $140 million worth of meth in his vehicle. Then he crashed it into a parked police car. Oops.
Final fight
The late Beth Chapman’s final reality show will air later this fall. It centers on her work with a team of bounty hunters — and documents her battle with cancer.
Son of the year
Remember the man who scaled — like a real-life Spiderman — a burning 19-story building in Philly last week? Turns out he was doing it to save his mom.
TODAY’S NUMBER
$700 million
That’s how much Equifax may have to pay to state and federal regulators to settle investigations stemming from a data breach that exposed the personal information of almost 150 million people
TODAY’S WEATHER
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I was willing to give him that seat. I would have also given a seat to any other viable candidate, from both sides.”
Nationally syndicated country music radio host Blair Garner, who said he was surprised and flattered when 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg approached him about appearing on Garner’s show. But Garner’s interview with Buttigieg was reportedly spiked by his employer, Cumulus Media, sparking cries of censorship.
AND FINALLY
‘Twas blind but now I see
Meet the surgeon who has restored sight to 130,000 blind people in Nepal. (Click to view)
