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JUDY WOODRUFF: The head of the federal government’s personnel office resigned today in the wake of a massive data breach at the agency.
Katherine Archuleta stepped down after disclosures more than 21 million current, former and prospective federal employees were affected.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said today the president believes new leadership is badly needed.
JOSH EARNEST, White House Press Secretary: Director Archuleta did offer her resignation today. She did so of her own volition. She recognizes, as the White House does, that the urgent challenges currently facing the Office of Personnel Management require a manager with a specialized set of skills and experiences.
JUDY WOODRUFF: In her statement today, Archuleta said she wants to let the personnel office — quote — “move beyond the current challenges.”
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled today the U.S. Central Bank is ready to raise interest rates this year. But in a speech, she also said that could change because the economic outlook is — quote — “highly uncertain.”
Meanwhile, hopes for a Greek bailout deal buoyed Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average gained more than 210 points to close at 17760. The Nasdaq rose 75 points and the S&P added 25. For the week, the Dow gained a fraction of 1 percent. The Nasdaq and the S&P fell a fraction.
It turns out that the suspect in the church shootings in Charleston, South Carolina, should have been legally barred from buying his .45-caliber handgun. The FBI said today that a background check failed to spot Dylann Roof’s arrest for drug possession weeks earlier. FBI Director James Comey said he blames incomplete and inaccurate paperwork.
The Charleston shootings led directly to removing the Confederate Battle Flag from South Carolina’s state capitol grounds today. An estimated 10,000 people cheered and chanted as an honor guard of state troopers lowered the banner. Longtime civil rights activists were jubilant.
REV. NELSON B. RIVERS, National Action Network: It’s a great day in South Carolina because for the first time in my life, the state has said that we’re all one and all lives matter and, if it offends us, we will take it down. And for all these years, the state wouldn’t do it. But it was done today. It’s an awesome day.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The Confederate banner had been on the state capitol grounds for more than 50 years. After being taken down today, it was moved to a nearby museum.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is upping the warnings on some popular anti-inflammatory drugs. The agency says the change affects non-aspirin painkillers like ibuprofen and naproxen sold over the counter and by prescription. New labels will add to existing warnings about increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly today to speed new treatments to market. The bill is meant to expedite approval of drugs and medical devices by the Food and Drug Administration. It also boosts funding for biomedical research by nearly $9 billion. Consumer groups warned that the bill will weaken safeguards against potentially dangerous products. The Senate has yet to take up the issue.
In Yemen, fighting raged on, even as a U.N.-brokered humanitarian truce was supposed to take effect. Saudi-led airstrikes blasted Shiite rebel targets in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital city. The rebels, in turn, shelled the city of Aden.
A U.N. spokesman said both sides had agreed to stop fighting.
AHMAD FAWZI, United Nations Spokesman: If this humanitarian pause is respected, during any humanitarian pause, the humanitarian agencies and their partners aim to reach people in need with essential supplies, and that includes everything, medicine, vaccination, food, water, fuel.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The truce is supposed to last for a week, and aims to get aid to some 21 million people.
The U.N. Refugee Agency sounded the alarm today over a flood of refugees into Greece, even as that country faces bankruptcy. More than 77,000 migrants have landed on Greek islands this year, an average of 1,000 per day. The U.N. appealed to the European Union to step in before the situation gets worse.
WILLIAM SPINDLER, International Organization for Migration: We have seen huge expressions of solidarity from the Greek people, the Greek public, organizing distributions of food, water, milk for the babies and so on, which is particularly moving, given the economic situation in Greece. But Greece urgently needs help, and we expect Europe to step forward.
JUDY WOODRUFF: More than 60 percent of the migrants arriving in Greece are fleeing the war in Syria.
New York City turned out today to celebrate the U.S. women’s soccer team and their World Cup victory. Throngs lined streets in Lower Manhattan for a ticker tape parade. It was a first for a women’s sport team, and fans held signs and chanted “USA.” The Americans beat Japan last weekend for a record Third World Cup championship.
And actor Omar Sharif has died. His passing today ended a career that made him a global star in the 1960s. He made his international debut with this scene, as a bedouin tribal leader, Sherif Ali, on camelback, killing a man with one rifle shot.
OMAR SHARIF, Actor: He is dead.
PETER O’TOOLE, Actor: Yes. Why?
OMAR SHARIF: This is my well.
PETER O’TOOLE: I have drunk from it.
OMAR SHARIF: You are welcome.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The 1962 classic “Lawrence of Arabia” earned Omar Sharif worldwide fame and an Oscar nomination. He’d been born Michel Chalhoub to Catholic parents in Egypt in 1932 in Egyptian, but later adopted the name Sharif, meaning noble in Arabic.
Three years after “Lawrence” came “Dr. Zhivago.” Sharif played the title character, with Julie Christie as his mistress, Lara, in the epic drama of World War I and the Russian Revolution.
JULIE CHRISTIE, Actress: Wouldn’t it have been lovely if we’d met before?
OMAR SHARIF: Before we did. Yes.
JUDY WOODRUFF: In 1968, Sharif starred as Nicky Arnstein, the Jewish gambler, in “Funny Girl,” opposite Barbra Streisand. A long drought of good roles followed, but in 2003, the French film “Monsieur Ibrahim” brought him new honors.
Omar Sharif died today in Cairo of a heart attack. He was 83 years old.
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