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A federal judge on Friday, June 5, blocked the Trump administration from enforcing new conditions on billions of dollars in federal nutrition funding, siding with a coalition of Democratic-led states that argued the requirements threatened programs serving low-income families.

U.S. District Judge Myong Joun granted a preliminary injunction sought by 20 states and the District of Columbia, temporarily halting the U.S. Department of Agriculture's effort to tie funding to compliance with a range of federal policy priorities, according to reports from AP News, Newsweek and Reuters.

The challenged requirements applied to USDA grants and programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which helps roughly 39 million Americans buy groceries. States argued the new conditions jeopardized funding already approved by Congress and could disrupt critical food assistance programs while the lawsuit moves forward.

Joun, who sits on the federal bench in Boston, said he would issue a written memorandum explaining his decision at a later date.

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June 6, 1944: The Day That Changed the War

Before sunrise on June 6, 1944, thousands of Allied soldiers crossed the English Channel toward Nazi-occupied France in what would become the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, known as Operation Overlord, was commanded by General Dwight D. Eisenhower and involved troops from the United States, Britain, Canada, and several Allied nations.

During the night, thousands of paratroopers were dropped behind enemy lines to secure key roads, bridges, and strategic positions. As dawn broke, massive waves of soldiers approached the beaches of Normandy aboard landing craft while warships and aircraft provided support.

The invasion force landed across five designated beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. German defenses were strong, and some sectors saw intense fighting. At Omaha Beach, American troops faced particularly heavy resistance, suffering significant casualties as they fought their way off the shoreline.

Despite the challenges, Allied forces gradually pushed inland, establishing a crucial foothold in France. The success of D-Day opened a new front in Western Europe and marked the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. Less than a year later, Germany surrendered, bringing the war in Europe to a close.

Today, D-Day remains one of the most significant military operations in history, remembered for the courage, sacrifice, and determination of the soldiers who took part in it.

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Negative views of both Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have soared since last year across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, according to a new poll from Pew Research Center. 

Out of 36 countries, majorities in 32 of them have either a very unfavourable or somewhat unfavourable view of Israel, with only respondents in India, Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya holding a favourable view of the country.

The survey was conducted between 8 February and 13 May of this year. The US-Israel war on Iran started on 28 February and has had an impact on countries across the world, in part likely due to the economic impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where around 20 percent of the global oil supply passes through. 

Pew reported that across 36 countries, a median of 67 percent of adults held an unfavourable view of Israel, with just 25 percent holding a favourable view. 

Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem had the highest percentage of unfavourable views of Israel, with Turkey at 97 percent and Japan at 83 percent.

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Democrat Xavier Becerra will advance to the November election for California governor, according to a race call by The Associated Press. After days of counting ballots, it remains unclear who will claim the second spot in the fall.

In California's unusual primary system, all candidates, regardless of party, appear on a single ballot open to any registered voter. The top two candidates then move on to the general election. An estimated 3.5 million uncounted ballots remain. The state also counts mail-in ballots that arrive up to seven days after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.

The state hasn't had a wide-open primary like this one since the late 1990s. The winner in November will lead the country's most populous state, facing a large deficit and other obstacles, including the state's high cost of living, homelessness and wildfire risk. Incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is term limited and is widely thought to be running for president in 2028.

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Donald Trump has urged a controversial loyalist he installed as the country’s top intelligence official to fire “a lot of people” overseeing intelligence for the US federal government.

The US president said Bill Pulte, who has no previous experience in the intelligence sphere, is “less shackled” because he has only been appointed director of national intelligence temporarily.

Amid bipartisan concern over his appointment, Trump has told Pulte that he believes the office of the director of national intelligence – which oversees more than a dozen intelligence agencies and departments – is “unnecessary and/or too big”, the president told the Wall Street Journal.

“I’d like to see it smaller,” Trump told the Journal. “I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn’t be there.”

Asked whether he was calling on Pulte to fire people, Trump replied that he wants his ally to “start the process”, adding that whoever he nominates to take the job permanently can continue it.

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The Department of Justice’s civil rights division was once known as the crown jewel of the agency, but under Trump it has become just another tool of this administration’s politicized and racialized attacks targeting Black, Latino and other people of color.

The latest examples are the sham findings of discrimination the division issued against the medical schools of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Yale University for admitting high-achieving Black and Hispanic students. The administration is cynically wielding its anti-discrimination authority to tear down civil rights advances at the cost of equal educational opportunity.

In its findings, the justice department claimed the grades and test scores of Black and Hispanic admitted applicants were less competitive than those of white and Asian admits and said the schools intentionally discriminated against white and Asian applicants. But the justice department’s conclusions overstate the difference in scores between applicants and ignore other applicant data completely, including student transcripts, letters of recommendations and essays.

The differences among GPAs and test scores – one standard deviation or less – were too small to be legally or statistically significant and may be explained by random factors unrelated to race. Comparatively, two standard deviations is the commonly accepted threshold that federal courts and social scientists consider statistically significant in racial discrimination cases.

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The Department of Defense moved this week to dramatically reduce the number of recognized religions, faiths and belief systems from more than 200 all the way to 31.

The move was announced to troops in a memo signed by Anthony Tata, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness of the United States, and shared with USA TODAY by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).

In the memo, Tata says that the move comes at the direction of Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, who said the move was done to “streamline the DoW collection of religious preferences collection for service members to enhance the delivery of targeted religious support from the Chaplaincy.”

Founder and President of the MRFF, Mikey Weinstein, called the move to reduce the number of recognized religions a direct hit on the Constitution's First Amendment.

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The New York State Senate and Assembly have passed three high-profile bills, including regulations on data centers, surveillance pricing, and civil orders of protection in stalking cases.

The Responsible Data Center Development Act will impose a year-long pause on new permits for data center computing facilities requiring 20 megawatts or more, and the One Fair Price Act will prevent retailers from using consumers' personal data to generate custom prices.

The Ceasing Repeated and Extremely Egregious Predatory Behavior Act will create a new class of civil orders of protection in stalking cases. However, more controversial environmental, housing, and entertainment measures were abandoned.

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