“Grocery giant Kroger revealed during its first-quarter earnings call this month that it will shut down about 60 underperforming stores over the next 18 months. At the same time, the company intends to open new locations throughout this year and the next. ‘We’re simplifying our business and reviewing areas that will not be meaningful to our future growth. Unfortunately, today, not all of our stores are delivering the sustainable results we need,’ said Kroger Chairman and Interim CEO Ronald Sargent in the June 20 earnings call. … The specific stores targeted for closure have not been officially confirmed.” (06/25/25)
“Thousands of protesters against police brutality and government corruption clashed Wednesday with Kenyan police who hurled tear gas canisters and wielded batons, leaving several people injured as demonstrations spread around the country. The protests were timed to mark the one-year anniversary of anti-tax demonstrations in which 60 people were killed and 20 others remain missing. Parliament and the president’s office in the Kenya’s capital were barricaded with razor wire, with all access roads blockaded by police. The protests, which have spread to major cities including Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Nyahururu, have morphed into calls for the president to resign over poor governance. During last year’s protests, demonstrators stormed Parliament where legislation to increase taxes was passed, burning part of the building as lawmakers fled. Bodies lay in the streets, and medical workers and watchdogs said police had opened fire. The military was deployed.” (06/25/25)
“Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez intends to run for re-election in 2027 at the end of his current term, he said on Wednesday, despite the corruption investigations his government is facing. Sanchez, a Socialist, heads a minority leftist coalition government embroiled in a series of scandals, which have led the opposition to demand his resignation. ‘Yes, I am determined to run in the next general election in 2027,’ Sanchez told reporters after a question on whether he thought his government had the support of a majority of the population. Sanchez said on June 12 he would not call new elections before his current term is due to end despite the scandals ensnaring his party.” (06/25/25)
“One afternoon, as Isabella left school for the day, someone thrust a leaflet into her hand. ‘Do you want to make money with your beauty?’ it asked. She says a studio looking for models seemed to be targeting teenage pupils in her area in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital. At 17, with a two-year-old son to support, she desperately needed money, so went along to find out more. She says when she got there, it was a sexcam studio …. Models perform sexual acts which are streamed to viewers around the world, who message them and make requests via intermediaries, also known as monitors. The next day Isabella, whose real name we are not using, says she started work — even though it is illegal in Colombia for studios to employ webcam models under 18.” (06/25/25)
“Armenia’s security services arrested one of the country’s top religious leaders on terrorism charges Wednesday and accused him of plotting to overthrow the government, the second arrest in a week of a prominent political opponent. Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, a major figure in the influential Apostolic Church, was arrested by Armenia’s Investigative Committee, which accused him of planning to carry out bombings and arson attacks to disrupt power supplies and stage accidents on major roads to paralyze traffic. His lawyer described the charges as ‘fiction.’ Galstanyan leads the Sacred Struggle opposition movement and has demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who was the focus of protests last year by tens of thousands of demonstrators after Armenia agreed to hand over control of several border villages to bitter rival Azerbaijan and to normalize relations between the neighbors.” (06/25/25)
“The private burial of former President Edgar Lungu in South Africa was halted on Wednesday after the Zambian government succeeded in getting a last-minute court order on the day of the funeral to stop proceedings. Members of Lungu’s family were forced to delay their appearance at a burial service and instead attend a courtroom hearing in the South African capital dressed in black funeral attire to hear the case. The Pretoria High Court ruled that both parties had agreed after consultations that Lungu would not be buried until the case over where his funeral would be held was decided. The judge set an August 4 date for another hearing. The legal challenge by the Zambian government against Lungu’s burial in South Africa was the latest development in a nearly month-long dispute with Lungu’s family over the details of his funeral and final resting place.” (06/25/25)
“A federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump and his administration to release billions of Congress-approved dollars for electric vehicle charging infrastructure that they froze shortly after returning to the White House. In her 66-page ruling Tuesday, Judge Tana Lin in Seattle found that President Donald Trump violated the separation-of-powers doctrine enshrined in the Constitution and overextended executive authority when he halted the distribution of funds earmarked to expand the United States’ EV charging network.” (06/25/25)
“RIP, Marge Simpson. Well, sort of. ‘The Simpsons’ Season 36 finale revealed that the Simpson family matriarch died in a flash-forward scene. The episode, titled ‘Estranger Things,’ focuses on the sibling bond between Bart and Lisa, who grow apart after they stop watching the kids’ show ‘The Itchy & Scratchy Show.’ Marge is fearful that her kids will become estranged — which turns out to be a reality 35 years later after Marge has died. In the future, Lisa is the commissioner of the NBA and is paying for her widowed father Homer to live in a retirement home that Bart is running unlicensed. There’s a brief scene from Marge’s funeral where Homer is standing in tears over his wife’s grave while surrounded by family.” (06/25/25)
“Vietnam will end capital punishment for eight categories of serious crime – including embezzlement, attempts to overthrow the government and sabotaging state infrastructure, state media has reported. The state-run Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday that the country’s National Assembly unanimously passed an amendment to the Criminal Code that abolished the death penalty for eight criminal offences. Starting from next month, people will no longer face a death sentence for bribery, embezzlement, producing and trading counterfeit medicines, illegally transporting narcotics, espionage, ‘the crime of destroying peace and causing aggressive war,’ as well as sabotage and trying to topple the government.” (06/25/25)
“A unanimous Wisconsin Supreme Court handed a victory to the Republican-controlled Legislature on Wednesday in a power struggle with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, reining in the governor’s expansive veto powers. The court, in a ruling where the four liberal justices joined with three conservatives, struck down Evers’ partial veto of a Republican bill in a case that tested both the limits of his veto powers and the Legislature’s ability to exert influence by controlling funding. The court also ruled that the Legislature can put money for certain state programs into an emergency fund under the control of its budget committee. Evers had argued such a move was unconstitutional. The ruling will likely result in the Legislature crafting the budget and other spending bills in similar ways to get around Evers'[s] partial vetoes and to have even greater control over spending.” (06/25/25)
