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Travel ban, Putin threat and statistical problems

 
Today's IMMIGRATION story

Trump hits Africa, Middle East with new travel ban

What happened
President Donald Trump late yesterday revived the controversial travel ban from his first term, issuing a proclamation barring visitors from 12 countries and restricting entry from seven. Most of the affected countries are in Africa or the Middle East, though three are in the Americas. Using the same legal grounds, Trump signed a separate executive order to block nearly all foreign students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard. 

Who said what
Trump "justified" the new travel ban "in a number of ways," targeting countries with high visa overstay rates and those deemed to have "deficient" screening or vetting standards, The Wall Street Journal said. "We don't want 'em," Trump said in a video announcing the restrictions. He also tied the policy to Sunday's Molotov cocktail attack on a Jewish group in Boulder, Colorado, though the suspect in that assault is from Egypt, a country not on Trump's ban list. 

The banned countries are Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela face restricted entry, mostly through limited temporary visas. Trump's 2017 travel ban was blocked by the courts twice before the Supreme Court upheld a third version in 2018. Former President Joe Biden revoked it on his first day in office in 2021, calling it a "stain on our national conscience."

A federal judge last month blocked the Trump administration's first attempt to bar foreign students from Harvard. But Trump's new salvo — and the new travel ban — "invokes a different legal authority" that gives presidents "broad" authority to block foreigners seen as incompatible with America's national interests, The Associated Press said. Harvard called the order "yet another illegal retaliatory step" by Trump that violates the university's "First Amendment rights," and vowed to "continue to protect its international students." 

What next?
The travel ban goes into effect Monday, providing a "cushion that avoids the chaos that unfolded at airports nationwide" after Trump's 2017 ban, the AP said. The Supreme Court's decision to uphold the third ban "could make it more difficult for opponents to block Trump's new one," The Washington Post said, though "some immigration lawyers anticipated lawsuits" nevertheless. 

 
 
Today's INTERNATIONAL story

Trump says Putin vowed retaliation for Kyiv strike

What happened
President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a "good" 75-minute phone conversation yesterday, "but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace." Putin said, "very strongly, that he will have to respond" to Ukraine's weekend drone strikes on Moscow's most prized warplanes deep inside Russia, Trump recounted on social media.

Who said what
Trump's recap of the call did not say "how he reacted to Putin's promise" of retaliation, The Associated Press said, and it "showed none of the frustration" Trump has expressed in recent weeks over Putin's "prolonging of the war." Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov did not mention Putin's retribution vow in Moscow's readout, but said the leaders discussed the drone strike "at some length." In Russia, CNN said, pro-Kremlin pundits and bloggers are "seething with calls for retribution, even nuclear retaliation."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last night that none of the phone calls with Putin "have brought a reliable peace," and "with every new strike, with every delay of diplomacy, Russia is giving the finger to the entire world." The powerful "share responsibility" with Putin if they don't stop him, he wrote on social media, "and if they want to stop him but cannot, then Putin will no longer see them as powerful."

What next?
U.S. officials assess that Ukraine's explosive drones hit 20 Russian strategic bombers and spy plans and destroyed 10, Reuters said, about "half the number" Zelenskyy claims but still a "highly significant" strike that could "drive Moscow to a far more severe negotiating position in the U.S.-brokered talks."

 
 
Today's ECONOMY Story

Economists fear US inflation data less reliable

What happened
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said yesterday it has been collecting less data for its crucial consumer price index, the primary gauge of U.S. inflation, citing insufficient "resources." In an email this week to economists who had raised concerns about "quirks" in the April CPI report, The Wall Street Journal reported, the BLS said it had indefinitely "reduced" its data collection "due to a staffing shortage in certain CPI cities" amid President Donald Trump's "hiring freeze." 

Who said what
The reduction in in-person price checks that usually account for 60% of CPI data is "raising concerns among economists about the quality of the inflation figures just as they are being closely watched for the impact of tariffs," The Associated Press said. The data collection pullback is "collateral damage rather than intentional harm, but still damage," former Commerce Department economic statistics chief Jed Kolko told The New York Times. And "this isn't the moment when we want our read on inflation to get fuzzier."

The CPI concerns "follow other government-statistics issues that have worried economists," including the administration's sharp cutback in wholesale price data and disbanding of expert advisory committees that "help improve government stats," the Journal said. "There is no sign of an intentional effort to publish false or misleading statistics," but "any problems with the data could have major implications for the economy."

What next?
The BLS said the cuts to CPI data collection will have "minimal impact on the overall inflation rate,” but could "increase the volatility" of the price data on specific goods and in specific regions.

 
 

It's not all bad

People born more recently are less likely to develop dementia at the same age as their parents or grandparents, according to a major study across the U.S., Britain and continental Europe. The trend is especially strong among women, possibly due to better access to education. Experts say that despite this hopeful sign, dementia cases will still rise as populations age, and public health strategies are needed to further reduce dementia risk.

 
 
Under the radar

Zero-emissions air travel may be one step closer after scientists at MIT unveiled a new type of sodium fuel cell that could one day make electric-powered flight viable. The new fuel cell, designed by a team led by Yet-Ming Chiang, an MIT professor of materials science and engineering, works by combining liquid sodium metal with oxygen drawn from the air to create a continuous reaction. 

The device is "based on well-established electrochemical principles," said The Times of London. But "unlike conventional batteries, which must be recharged, it's designed to be refueled, with its energy-rich material being replaced as it's consumed." In this way, it's "more similar conceptually to hydrogen fuel cell systems," said MIT Technology Review. 

With a Boeing 747 estimated to burn about 3,800 gallons of fuel per hour, or about one gallon every second, according to Simple Flying, the aviation industry has long sought a way to make air travel more sustainable (and cheaper). Energy density is key for electric flight. In laboratory tests, the MIT sodium-air fuel cell prototype delivered more than five times as much energy per kilogram as the lithium-ion batteries currently used in cars. And sodium metal can be made from table salt.

Even so, sodium-air-powered flight is still some ways off. The "next step" is to continue research to "improve the cells' performance and energy density and start designing small-scale systems," with drones a potential option, said MIT. "We would like to make something fly within the next year," said Chiang.

 
 
On this day

June 5, 1981

The CDC revealed that a rare form of pneumonia had been detected in five gay men. These would become the first reported U.S. cases of the disease later called AIDS. An HIV/AIDS epidemic followed, peaking in the early 1990s. While there's still no cure for AIDS, rapid advancements in treatment have made the disease manageable.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

"Privacy is under 'chilling' assault," USA Today says on Thursday's front page. "Trump orders spur privacy concerns" as "merging databases" could "contribute to surveillance state," the Arizona Republic says. "GOP bill would swell U.S. debt by $2.4 trillion," The New York Times says. "Cost concerns add to bill debate," the Los Angeles Times says. "President plows past warnings on U.S. debt," The Washington Post says, while "Putin vows retaliation for strikes in Russia" by Ukraine's drones. "U.S. set to shift anti-drone tech from Ukraine," The Wall Street Journal says, and Trump "loses patience with a rebellious" Elon Musk.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Angry bird

A Muscovy duck is terrorizing the residents of a Cape Coral, Florida, neighborhood, lurking outside their homes and attacking them when the opportunity strikes. One resident, James Sepulveda, said the duck bit him as he was sitting on his porch and later came back to stare at him through his window. Residents called in a local reporter, Bella Line, but when she arrived in the neighborhood, it chased her. "I saw the duck's rage firsthand," she said.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Eric Lee / Bloomberg via Getty Images; Alexander Kazakov / Pool / AFP via Getty Images; Yuki Iwamura / Bloomberg via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images