Immigration Rulings, ‘Peppa Pig’ Pushback, and Soccer Shoes

 Need To Know 

SCOTUS Immigration Rulings

The Supreme Court handed down two immigration rulings yesterday, allowing the Trump administration to revive a border asylum policy and immediately move forward with ending deportation protections for migrants from Haiti and Syria.

In the first case, the court ruled migrants turned away before setting foot on US soil cannot apply for asylum. The decision restores the "metering" policy, which limits daily asylum processing at the US-Mexico border, a policy that was rescinded under President Joe Biden. In the second case, the court said the administration may immediately end Temporary Protected Status for roughly 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians while legal challenges continue. Created in 1990, TPS protects migrants from deportation if their home countries face war, natural disasters, or other emergencies, with protections intended to end when conditions improve.

Separately, the court struck down Hawaii's restriction on carrying firearms onto private property open to the public and limited state-law failure-to-warn lawsuits against Bayer over its Roundup weedkiller. See how SCOTUS decides its cases here.

Deadly Double Quake

Rescue crews are searching for thousands of people reported missing after powerful twin earthquakes struck Venezuela less than a minute apart Wednesday evening. At least 188 people are dead as of this writing, and hundreds more are injured.

The first, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, struck west of Caracas, putting stress on another fault line roughly 3 miles away and triggering a 7.5-magnitude quake 39 seconds later. The second quake was the strongest Venezuela has experienced in over a century. The nation sits on a border where the Caribbean tectonic plate slides along the South American plate (see map). The tremors were felt in Brazil's Amazon, roughly 1,050 miles from Caracas, where buildings, power, and cell service all went down. (Learn how scientists determine where a quake originated here.)

Interim President Delcy Rodríguez is reportedly coordinating aid with several countries, including the US, which has backed her since capturing former President Nicolás Maduro. The United Nations is also calling on Rodríguez to lift digital media restrictions imposed by Maduro to facilitate the flow of lifesaving information. 

'Peppa Pig' Contract Doesn't Fly

Nearly 1,000 people have signed an open letter condemning contracts requiring child actors to sign over their voices to AI. The letter comes after Hasbro, which owns the “Peppa Pig” brand, reportedly updated its contracts to include the clause.

The new contracts come after Hasbro presented an AI version of Peppa Pig this year, in partnership with ElevenLabs. It’s not clear if six-year-old Harriette Cox, who began voicing the character last year, licensed her voice for the project. (See part of the demo via LinkedIn.) Child advocates say kids are too young to sign over rights to their voices or images indefinitely. If they refuse, however, they risk losing out on business opportunities. 

“Peppa Pig” is a Nick Jr. show with tens of millions of YouTube subscribers. The animated series is one of dozens of entertainment projects owned by Hasbro; adaptations of Monopoly, My Little Pony, Magic: The Gathering, and Furby are currently in development.

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> Harvey Weinstein's New York rape charge is dropped after an overturned verdict and two deadlocked juries; his accuser says she does not want to testify at a fourth trial (More) 

> David Clayton-Thomas, lead singer of the Grammy-winning band Blood, Sweat & Tears, dies at age 84 (More) | Listen to "Spinning Wheel," one of the band's hits written by Clayton-Thomas (More)  

> France and Norway battle at 3 pm ET for the top spot in their World Cup group, while Uruguay faces Spain at 8 pm ET with a chance to advance on the line (More, w/schedule) | See highlights from last night's USMNT vs. Turkey game; USMNT already clinched a spot in the next round, which begins Sunday (More)

1440 is partnering with Men in Blazers to bring you the most detailed coverage of the world’s biggest tournament this summer. Sign up here to get daily, in-depth updates.

Science & Technology

> IBM unveils world's first sub-1-nanometer chip technology, expected to enable significantly more powerful computers without a corresponding energy increase (More) | How small is a nanometer? (More)

> Gene editing enables scientists to see an early human embryo in detail, revealing a master gene crucial to development; finding may improve IVF outcomes and reduce pregnancy loss (More) | Understand the gene-editing technique (More, w/video)

> Astronomers discover two planets the size of Jupiter but lighter than cotton candy; they are likely composed primarily of helium and hydrogen (More) 

Business & Markets

> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.0%, Dow +0.1%, Nasdaq -0.5%) (More) | US Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index—key inflation metric monitored by the Fed—rose 4.1% year over year in May, highest level in three years (More) 

> Apple shares drop 6% after it raises prices for MacBooks and iPads due to higher memory chip and storage costs (More, w/price hikes) | Microsoft raises Xbox console prices for third time in 13 months due to higher component costs (More) 

> Dating app Bumble reportedly exploring sale amid slow growth (More) | Inside the dramatic story behind Bumble's founding—including a Russian billionaire and a Tinder cofounder (More) 

Politics & World Affairs

> UN agency pauses plan to evacuate hundreds of ships stranded in the Persian Gulf after Iran allegedly attacks a Singaporean-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman with a drone (More)

> Great American State Fair kicks off in DC's National Mall; will be open through July 10 (More) | See photos (More) | National Park Service says the lining of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was cut with a knife or razor this month (More)

> North Korean soldier defects to South Korea, becoming the latest of more than 34,000 North Koreans who have defected since 1998, per South Korean data (More) 

In-Depth

> Your Gut Has a Story to Tell

1440 Explores | Dina Fine Maron. What do trillions of gut microbes, a medieval court jester, and Bluetooth sensors have in common? They're all part of the surprising story of flatulence and what emerging science may reveal about your digestive health. (Listen) 

> America's Earliest Menus

The Pudding | Stephen Lurie. Travel back in time with a virtual 10-course meal inspired by menu items from some of the United States' first fine dining restaurants. A Horse's Neck and vol-au-vent, anyone? (Read) 

... and after you read, explore 5,000 historic menus here.

> The English Language Isn't Smelly

Storied | Staff. Our eyes have only three types of color receptors, while our noses have roughly 400 types of odor receptors. So why is it so much easier for us to find words for how something looks than for how it smells? (Watch) 

> The Passive American Dream

WSJ | Joe Pinsker. As US job satisfaction hits a record low, a growing number of younger Americans are eager to become their own bosses and get their time back with businesses that practically run themselves. (Read) 

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Historybook: Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro is assassinated (1541); Sports great Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias born (1911); Berlin Airlift begins (1948); JFK delivers famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech (1963); Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage in the US (2015).

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