| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Friday, July 1, 2022 by Linda Noakes | Hello Here's what you need to know. Russia seizes control of the Sakhalin gas project, the U.S. Supreme Court throws out rulings upholding gun restrictions, and Meta slashes its hiring plans | | | | | Today's biggest stories  A residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike in the village of Serhiivka, Odesa region, Ukraine, July 1, 2022. REUTERS/Iryna Nazarchuk RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russia rained missiles near Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa, hitting an apartment building and a resort and killing at least 19 people, Ukrainian officials said, hours after Russian troops were driven off the nearby Snake Island.
One section of a nine-storey apartment block was completely destroyed by a missile that struck at 1:00 a.m. The walls and windows of a neighboring, 14-storey apartment block had also been damaged by the blast wave.
President Vladimir Putin has raised the stakes in an economic war with the West by signing a decree to seize full control of the Sakhalin-2 gas and oil project in Russia's far east, a move that could force out Shell and Japanese investors.
Although Western nations have issued rounds of sanctions against Russia, a Reuters review of key companies, executives and investors in Russia’s defense industry shows a number of players are yet to pay a price. Read our special report.
Russia said it had summoned the British ambassador to voice a strong protest against "offensive" British statements, including about alleged Russian threats to use nuclear weapons.
Here's what you need to know about the Russia-Ukraine conflict right now
|  Climate activists demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., June 30, 2022. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger
U.S.
The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority has shown in its blockbuster abortion ruling and other high-profile decisions in recent days that it is fearless when it comes to overturning - and even ignoring - historic precedents. And the conservative justices, with a 6-3 majority, may just be getting started, even as their current term comes to a close.
Just days after the court abolished women's constitutional right to abortion, Alabama has cited that ruling in a bid to outlaw parents from obtaining puberty blockers and certain other medical treatment for their transgender children.
Judges in Florida and Kentucky moved to block those states from enforcing bans or restrictions on abortion. The decisions came amid a flurry of litigation by abortion rights groups seeking to preserve people's ability to terminate pregnancies.
The Supreme Court's decision yesterday to limit the powers of the nation’s top environmental regulator to curb carbon emissions will force the Biden administration to take more creative measures to reach its ambitious goals to combat climate change. Some legal experts said the ruling would more broadly curb the federal government's regulatory power.
On the heels of last week's landmark ruling expanding individual gun rights, the court threw out several lower court rulings that had upheld gun restrictions including bans on assault-style rifles in Maryland and large-capacity ammunition magazines in New Jersey and California.
WORLD
There is no reason to change Hong Kong's "one country, two systems" formula of governance, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on a rare visit to the global financial hub after swearing in the city's new leader, John Lee.. Freedom in Hong Kong has "vanished" and China has failed to live up to its promises of 50 years without change, Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang said.
The specter of an emerging Arab-Israeli bloc that could tilt the Middle East balance of power further away from Iran is driving the Islamic Republic to pursue nuclear talks with world powers with renewed determination, officials and analysts said.
Thousands of pilgrims started arriving in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabiay, among some one million Muslims expected to attend the 2022 haj pilgrimage season after two years of major disruption caused by the COVID pandemic.
The first in-person Canada Day celebrations in three years will include a huge police presence and street closures throughout downtown Ottawa to prevent anti-government "freedom" protesters from disrupting the festivities.
North Korea claimed that the country's first COVID-19 outbreak began with patients touching "alien things" near the border with South Korea, apparently shifting blame to its neighbor for the wave of infections in the isolated country.
|  Tourists look at a summer shop on a promenade in Fuengirola, near Malaga, Spain, June 30, 2022. REUTERS/Jon Nazca BUSINESS
Euro zone inflation hit yet another record high in June as price pressures broadened, and its peak could still be months away, firming the case for rapid European Central Bank rate hikes starting this month.
New U.S. data for May showed little immediate relief from the record pace of inflation pushing the Federal Reserve toward another oversized interest rate increase next month, but it did add to a developing sense that the worst may be over.
India introduced export duties on gasoil, gasoline and jet fuel to help maintain domestic supplies, while also imposing a windfall tax on oil producers who have benefited from higher global crude oil prices.
Facebook-owner Meta Platforms has cut plans to hire engineers by at least 30% this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees, as he warned them to brace for a deep economic downturn.
A significantly weaker than expected business outlook by memory-chip firm Micron Technology raised concern that following nearly two years of strong demand the industry was turning toward a down cycle.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has exposed a gap in socially-minded investing – a hands-off approach to geopolitics and human rights. Before Moscow sent troops into Ukraine, Sberbank, a Kremlin-backed bank already the target of international sanctions, enjoyed higher ratings for environmental, social and governance risks than some western lenders.
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