Geoff: We begin with breaking
developments of a mass shooting
at a supermarket at Buffalo, new
York.
At least 10 people have been
killed according to law
enforcement.
It is still unclear how many
other people may have been shot.
Buffalo police say the suspected
shooter is in custody.
Turning to the war in Ukraine,
Ukrainian forces say they have
forced the Russian withdrawal
from the country's
second-largest city, kharkiv, in
the northeast.
Fighting rages on in the eastern
donbas region, and to the south.
Meanwhile, Russian president
Vladimir Putin took punitive
action today against Finland,
suspending its electricity
exports two days after Finland
declared its intention to join
nato.
Putin told the Finnish president
by phone today that abandoning
its policy of neutrality would
be a mistake.
And, in the Ukrainian capital,
Kyiv, a senate Republican
delegation led by minority
leader Mitch Mcconnell met with
president volodymyr zelenskyy,
who praised the visit as a show
of strong bipartisan support for
his country.
Justice Clarence Thomas weighed
in on the leaked supreme court
draft opinion overturning roe V
wade.
At an event last night in
Dallas, Thomas said the leak has
dramatically affected trust
within the high court.
Justice Thomas: Now that trust,
or that belief, is gone forever.
And when you lose that trust,
especially in the institution
that I'm in, it changes the
institution fundamentally.
You begin to look over your
shoulder.
It's like kind of an infidelity.
Geoff: Thomas' critics note the
damage to the court done by his
own refusal to recuse himself
from capitol-riot cases in light
of the fact that his wife,
right-wing activist ginni
Thomas, reportedly pressed
then-president trump's chief of
staff on overturning the 2020
election.
Meanwhile, thousands across the
country gathered today in
support of abortion rights.
Phundreds of events in dozens of
cities brought massive crowds to
protest the supreme court's
leaked draft opinion.
Protesters in the nation's
capital marched to the supreme
court, after activists spoke
about defending abortion rights
at the ballot box.
>> We need you to vote because
reproductive justice rights are
on the ballot in 2022.
Make no qualms about it.
We need you to vote.
We need you to run.
We need you to organize.
We need you to donate.
They are counting on our voter
apathy.
Geoff: The leaked draft opinion
is not final, but the decision
in the abortion case will come
down by the end of the court's
term in late June or early July.
A federal judge has blocked part
of an Alabama law that made it a
felony to prescribe
gender-affirming medical care
and hormones to transgender
minors.
The law makes prescribing the
treatments punishable by up to
10 years in prison.
Alabama was the third state to
pass restrictions on transgender
healthcare, following Arkansas
and Tennessee, but the first to
add felony penalties.
South Africa is seeing a rapid
uptick in covid cases.
Health experts say the increase
is driven by two additional
omicron sub-variants, which can
still infect people who are
vaccinated or have some level of
immunity.
The country is reporting more
hospitalizations, but severe
cases and deaths remain
stagnant.
And, North Korea is scrambling
to contain an outbreak among its
largely unvaccinated population
of 26 million.
Today, 21 new deaths were
reported.
Leader Kim Jong-un called it a
"Great disaster and upheaval."
Due to North Korea's poor
healthcare system, the country's
response will likely rely on
isolation and quarantine
measures.
And, they made it to the top of
the world while also making
history.
The first-ever expedition group
comprised of all-black climbers
reached the summit of mount
Everest.
The group, called full circle
Everest, marked the moment as
especially important, as a means
of boosting black representation
in the climbing community.
Also this week, a nepali sherpa
set the women's climbing record
for mount Everest.
The sherpa scaled the peak for a
tenth time, besting her own
record set in 2018.
Still to come on "Pbs news
weekend"...
The Twitter feed that has
memorialized those who lost
their lives to covid-19.
And with the premiere soccer
league's title still up for
grabs, a look at some of the
biggest headlines from this
season.
>> This is "Pbs news weekend"