News Wrap: Biden entices Americans with free beer, cash in bid to inoculate 70% of adults

• Judy Woodruff:

  Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been swept from office tonight, after two years of political turmoil.

  Opposition groups agreed on a new government, with potentially far-reaching implications for Israel and all of the Middle East. We will have much more after the news summary.

  President Biden rolled out new enticements today to get more Americans vaccinated against COVID-19. They range from free beer to cash giveaways. The president promised today that better days lie ahead, if 70 percent of U.S. adults have at least one shot in the next month.

• President Joseph Biden:

  Americans can do anything when we do it together. So, please, do your part. Give it your all through July the 4th. Let's reach our 70 percent goal. Let's go into the summer freer and safer. Let's celebrate a truly historic Independence Day.

• Judy Woodruff:

  So far, nearly 63 percent of U.S. adults are at least partially immunized.

  There's word that a ring of Venezuelans stole U.S. pandemic stimulus checks totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Miami Herald and others report a federal indictment in Miami names at least five suspects. They live in South Florida and Mexico.

  Iran has been hit by twin disasters on land and at sea. Early today, the country's largest warship sank in the Gulf of Oman after erupting in flames. Thick black smoke could be seen rising from the resupply and training vessel. Iran said 33 sailors were hurt.

  Hours later, smoke billowed over Tehran, where an oil refinery caught fire. There was no word on the cause of the incidents.

  The White House today announced an expedited review of cyberattacks that demand ransoms. It follows attacks on a critical U.S. pipeline and a major meat processor.

  Former U.S. Cybersecurity Director Christopher Krebs said today the problem is urgent.

• Christopher Krebs:

  They went after our gas and they went after our hot dogs. No one is out of bounds here. Everyone is in play. And every single corporate executive needs to be convening their cybersecurity teams and their business resilience teams today to understand what their continuity plans are.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Criminal gangs linked to Russia are blamed for the recent attacks. White House officials say President Biden will raise that with Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, at their summit this month.

  The meat processing giant that was targeted this week, JBS, was restoring operations today in North America and Australia. The company said a vast majority of its plants have now returned to work. JBS is the second leading producer of beef, chicken and pork in the U.S.

  Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have added to their narrow majority with a special election win in New Mexico. Melanie Stansbury easily took Tuesday's vote. She will succeed Deb Haaland, who was named interior secretary.

  The National Football League pledged today to stop using race-norming to make a billion dollars in payouts for brain injuries. The medical practice adjusts for race in testing for dementia. Retired Black players say that it assumes that they started with lower cognitive functioning than whites, and that makes it harder to win compensation.

  And on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 25 points to close at 34600. The Nasdaq rose about 20 points. The S&P 500 added six.

from:pbs