🇪🇹 Ethiopian Rebels Retake Capital City

Image: CNN

Rebel forces in Ethiopia’s Tigray region took control of the capital city Mekelle on Monday evening, leading Ethiopia to declare an immediate, unilateral ceasefire in an attempt to end an eight-month civil war in Africa’s second-most populous nation.

📜 Background: The Ethiopian military has been in control of much of Tigray since last November, when it launched a major offensive aimed at removing the Tigray People’s Liberation Front from power. (Why is Ethiopia at war with itself?)

• The ongoing civil war has killed thousands of Ethiopians, displaced 1.7M people, and driven more than 350,000 people to famine, per the UN.

👀 Looking ahead… Tigrayan forces on Tuesday rejected the truce, with a spokesman telling Reuters ($) their primary focus is to “degrade enemy fighting capabilities'' – even if that means pursuing them into neighboring Eritrea.

• From the Gov’t: “The government has the responsibility to find a political solution to the problem.” –Abraham Belay, the head of Ethiopia’s interim administration.
• From the Rebels: “Our primary focus is to degrade enemy fighting capabilities… so if going to Amhara is what it takes, we will do it, if going to Eritrea is what it takes, we’ll do it.” –Getachew Reda, regional government spokesman for the Tigrayan rebels.

🎁 DONUT Headline: United Airlines is buying 270 new planes - its biggest such purchase ever - and will hire 25k new workers by 2026 to staff and support them. (If you’re part of the 92% of workers open to changing industries… now might be the time to check out flight school.)

🎁 DONUT Headline: Two valuable paintings stolen from a Greek art gallery in 2012 were recovered by police after they drew a confession out of the 49-year-old mastermind behind the heist. (Brb, binge-watching all the Ocean’s movies.)

Images: CDC (cases on the left; deaths on the right)

The coronavirus has infected more than 33M people and killed more than 600k people in the U.S. throughout the pandemic, according to the CDC.

• The Delta variant is well on its way to becoming the dominant strain in the U.S., with cases doubling every two weeks, per CDC data.
• As of June 19, it was responsible for 20% of all cases in the U.S., and is expected to make up a majority of cases by early to mid-July.
• Thus far, evidence points to all available vaccines in the U.S. being effective against the Delta variant, after Moderna on Tuesday revealed its shot showed promise against Delta in a lab setting.

A recent Yahoo!/YouGov poll found 72% of U.S. adults think Delta poses a serious risk to either “all Americans” (27%) or “unvaccinated Americans” (45%).

• However, just 15% of unvaccinated Americans say the dangers of Delta have increased their likelihood of getting a jab, compared to 10% who said Delta’s emergence made them less likely to get vaccinated.

Image: CDC

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, including nearly 90% of Americans aged 65+.

📸 The Big Picture

Images: Gallup

The above image is from a recent Gallup poll of nearly 5k American adults from June 14-20. (The 57-35-4 partisan difference really stood out to us.)

That same poll found Americans’ optimism about the pandemic reached a new all-time high.

• However… The poll also found 40% of U.S. adults believe their life will never get completely back to the ‘normal’ that existed pre-COVID.

⚡ The Nuclear Option

Image: Gensler

Historically, nuclear energy producers have aimed to be competitive by running massive operations with fission reactors that create enough electricity to power entire cities.

• Such a tactic can result in the construction of nuclear power plants becoming embroiled with delays and cost overruns.

A startup called Oklo is working to disrupt the nuclear power industry by developing micro-nuclear reactors small enough to construct in remote locations, but powerful enough to supply energy to industrial sites, large companies, and college campuses.

• Oklo plans to build a “fast reactor,” a technology developed in the 1950s to create energy from the nuclear waste produced by traditional reactors.

The startup hopes to have its proposed power plants up and running by the mid-2020s.

Keep reading.

Image: Twitter

Sometimes heroes are found in the most unexpected places. For one Florida woman, he appeared as a friendly bartender in a Hawaiian shirt and lei.

• Trinity Allie was out for a drink with a friend when a man started harassing them at the bar. Luckily, bartender Max Gutierrez took notice, discreetly slipping Trinity her “receipt” with a note scribbled on it offering his help.

Max promptly asked the harasser to leave and made sure both girls felt safe after the incident.

• “Legit the type of bartender everyone needs,” said Trinity, who went back the next week to thank Max in person.

Keep reading.

Which state has the largest House of Representatives, with 400 members?

A) New Hampshire
B) California
C) Maine
D) New York

(keep scrolling for the answer)

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A) New Hampshire

At 400 members, the Granite State's lower chamber is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, behind only the U.S. House of Representatives (435 members) and the UK’s House of Commons (650 members).

• In a state with less than 1.4 million people, math dictates that it only requires about 1,200 to 1,500 votes to win a seat in the New Hampshire lower chamber.