Terror reaches a new low. NASA reaches a new high. It’s Tuesday, and here are the 5 things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
1. Terrorism
When will it all stop? That’s what the world wants to know after a week of terrorist assaults that have shocked even those somewhat accustomed to such violence. Shootings and bombings at Istanbul’s airport. Diners hacked to death at a popular cafe in Bangladesh. Hundreds of shoppers killed in a massive bombing in Baghdad. And now three suicide attacks in 24 hours in Saudi Arabia — including one in Medina, one of Islam’s holiest sites — that left four people dead. One observer noted the Medina attack, coming at the end of Ramadan, feels like an attack on Islam itself.
2. Juno
The biggest planet in the solar system’s has some company this morning. NASA’s Juno spacecraft started orbiting Jupiter late last night after completing a five-year, 1,740-million-mile journey to the gas giant. Juno — a spinning, robotic probe as wide as a basketball court — will study Jupiter’s interior, hoping to unlock clues to its origins. Scientists think Jupiter was the first planet to form in our solar system, so by learning more about it we’ll hopefully learn more on how the solar system evolved as well.
3. Campaign 2016
Guess all political junkies will be Tar Heels today. Both of the presidential candidates will be in the battleground state of North Carolina. Hillary Clinton will campaign this afternoon in Charlotte with President Obama, after she gets a lift on Obama’s ride, Air Force One. Hey, who’s paying for that? That’s what Donald Trump, who’ll be rallying in Raleigh tonight, wants to know. All of this comes after a tough holiday weekend for both of them. Clinton was interviewed by the FBI over her emails, while Trump caught flack over a tweet about Clinton that many considered anti-Semitic.
4. Rio Olympics
Is it too late to just call Rio’s Summer Games off? We won’t even go down the list of now-familiar issues plaguing the run-up to the Games. New problems popped up last week: body parts washing up on the beach where volleyball will be played and police officers, upset about not getting paid, putting up a “Welcome to Hell” sign at the airport. Now scientists say a drug-resistant bacteria, fueled by sewage from local hospitals, is growing offshore, including waters where Olympic sailors will compete. Ugh. At any rate, the Summer Games start in exactly one month.
5. Missing student
A man was arrested this morning in the death of a U.S. college student in Rome. Beau Solomon, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, disappeared early Friday after leaving a bar. He’d just arrived in Italy for a summer study abroad program. His body was found yesterday in the Tiber River.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
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Super goodbye
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An artist makes a political statement using a politician’s favorite thing as his canvas — cold hard cash.
Time to burn a jersey?
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