Top Eight

Top eight stories for today including the Justice Department’s top national security official alerted staffers he is stepping down; NATO put China’s military ambitions at the center of its strategic thinking; Two Republican congressman brought a federal complaint over security procedures to get onto the House floor, and more.

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National

1.) John Demers is exiting as the top national security official at the Department of Justice amid backlash against the government’s monitoring of journalists, Democrat lawmakers and their children to plug suspected intelligence leaks.

2.) Two men convicted under a controversial federal anti-riot law for their participation in the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, were turned away by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday morning.

People fly into the air as a vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. (Ryan M. Kelly/The Daily Progress via AP)

3.) The Supreme Court asked the Biden administration Monday to give its take in a long-running case that says Harvard University discriminates against Asian-Americans in its treatment of race as a student admissions factor.

FILE - In this March 7, 2017 file photo, rowers paddle down the Charles River past the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

4.) Two Republican congressman brought a federal complaint Monday over security procedures to get onto the House floor that they say are selectively enforced against Republicans, causing them to miss votes.

Congressional staff passes through a metal detector and security screening as they enter the House chamber, new measures put into place after a mob loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. Democrats are set to pass a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke constitutional authority under the 25th Amendment to oust Trump. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Regional

5.) Vital woodland ecosystems around California have become addicted to water supplied by humans and may no longer be able to survive when the tap gets shut off, imperiling the future for a number of endangered animals that call these woodlands home.

This image shows the riparian community woodlands along the lower Tuolumne River near Merced, California. The dry grassland in the background indicates the semi-arid conditions and drought environment. (Credit: John Stella, ESF)

6.) A controversial tar sands oil pipeline cleared one more legal hurdle Monday as the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed a state energy regulator’s approval of the project.

Activists occupy construction equipment at an Enbridge Line 3 pump station near Park Rapids, Minn., on June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio)

International

7.) With anxiety in Europe and the United States growing over the rise of China, the NATO military alliance on Monday for the first time placed not just Moscow but also Beijing at the center of its strategic thinking and declared that the Asian superpower “presents challenges.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks with U.S. President Joe Biden during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a NATO summit at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Monday, June 14, 2021. U.S. President Joe Biden is taking part in his first NATO summit, where the 30-nation alliance hopes to reaffirm its unity and discuss increasingly tense relations with China and Russia, as the organization pulls its troops out after 18 years in Afghanistan. (Stephanie Lecocq, Pool via AP)

8.) After three days of talks and simmering disagreements at an English sea resort, the Group of Seven rich nations agreed to back a wide-ranging, though not clearly defined, American strategy to counter the rise of China.

President Joe Biden arrives for the final session of the G-7 summit in Carbis Bay, England, Sunday, June 13, 2021. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

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