House and Senate pass a $4.6 billion humanitarian aid bill for the border, breakdancing to be added to the Olympics, a new arms race over hypersonic missiles, and researchers calculate the cost of hungover workers to the British economy.

These are the newsworthy stories from this past week.

Politics and Government

• Over the objection of many liberal Democrats, the House passed the Senate version of a $4.6 billion bill funding humanitarian aid. It now goes to President Trump for his signature. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) had pledged to make changes before allowing a House vote, but with the July Fourth recess nearly upon them—and public horror at conditions along the border growing—she abandoned that plan.
  
  From The Wall Street Journal

• The battle for political advantage in state capitols will become more intense after a 5-4 Supreme Court decision declaring that federal judges have no role in settling disputes over partisan gerrymandering.
  
  The momentous ruling could empower the parties controlling state legislatures and governorships to become even more aggressive in drawing districts after the 2020 census.
  
  From AP

• The Trump administration is considering requiring that next-generation 5G cellular equipment used in the U.S. be designed and made outside China. That could reshape global manufacturing and increase tensions between the two countries
  
  From The Wall Street Journal

• The Trump administration proposed creating a new type of apprenticeship run by business groups, colleges and others, rather than by the federal government.
  
  Apprenticeships, which combine on-the-job training and classroom education, are seen by some policy makers as a way to entice Americans into the labor force. Job openings in April outnumbered unemployed Americans by 1.625 million, the largest gap on record back to 2000.
  
  The outstanding question is, with less government oversight, can employers be trusted to serve the needs of Americans who may want to work, but don’t have the skills to land a job?
  
  From The Wall Street Journal

• For the second week in a row, a small Florida city has agreed to pay cyber criminals hundreds of thousands of dollars after a ransomware attack crippled city systems.
  
  From The Wall Street Journal

Global

• To win voters lost to an antiglobalization backlash, mainstream parties in Germany, the U.K., Denmark, France and Spain aim to reverse decades of pro-market policy—increasing state control over business and the economy, boosting welfare benefits and pensions and raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. Some have discussed nationalizations and expropriations.
  
  From The Wall Street Journal

• An opposition candidate won a repeat vote for mayor of Istanbul, ending President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s grip on the city and exposing troubles in his dominant party.
  
  Ekrem Imamoglu beat the candidate of Mr. Erdogan’s ruling AKP, just as he had in March—but those earlier results were voided after the president complained of fraud.
  
  From The Wall Street Journal

• The cost to Britain’s economy of people coming to work either hungover or still drunk: $1.8 billion, according to a calculation served up by researchers.
  
  From Bloomberg

• Breakdancing moved a step closer to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, and now organizers will book a street venue in Paris. Called “breaking” in Olympic circles, its medal debut was last October at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games.
  
  Paris wants to add four sports to its program, though the other three — skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing — will make their debuts in Tokyo next year.
  
  From AP

Health and Society

• Provisional data show drug-overdose deaths in the U.S. fell last year for the first time since 1990.
  
  Those data predict there were nearly 69,100 drug deaths in the 12-month period ending last November, down from almost 72,300 predicted deaths for 12 months ending November 2017.
  
  From The Wall Street Journal

Missiles and Space

• Hypersonic missiles, which could travel at more than 15 times the speed of sound, are starting a new global arms race.
  
  From The New York Times

• Tuesday morning, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its heftiest rocket, with 24 research satellites aboard, from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
  
  The Defense Department mission carried 24 satellites, a deep-space atomic clock, solar sail, a clean and green rocket fuel testbed, and human ashes.
  
  NASA signed up for a spot on the rocket, along with NOAA, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Planetary Society and Celestis Inc., which offers memorial flights into space.
  
  From AP

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