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5 things to know for June 26: Mueller, immigration, 2020 Dems, population, Zimbabwe

Posted at 4:04 AM, Jun 26, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-26 06:04:55-04

Grab a piece of cardboard and practice your moves. Break dancing is a step closer to becoming an Olympic sport.

Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. (You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)

1. Robert Mueller

Looks like we’ll be hearing from Robert Mueller after all. The former special counsel will testify publicly before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees on July 17 about his almost two-year investigation into President Trump. Mueller agreed to testify after he was subpoenaed. This will be must-see TV and the most-anticipated congressional hearing in decades. Trump tweeted his response to the news: “Presidential Harassment!” The only other time we heard from Mueller was last month, when he explained that his investigation couldn’t clear the President of obstruction of justice and that Justice Department guidelines didn’t allow him to charge a sitting President. He also said if he testified, he wouldn’t go beyond what’s already in his report. Mueller’s testimony is probably the Dems’ best and last chance to politically weaponize the Russia scandal, CNN’s Stephen Collinson said.

2. Immigration

The humanitarian crisis on the US-Mexico border was brought into sharp, heartbreaking focus yesterday after this pictureemerged. It’s a photo of a father and his young daughter who drowned over the weekend after they tried to cross the Rio Grande. They are facedown in the water on the banks of the Mexican side of the river, across from Brownsville, Texas. The little girl is tucked inside her father’s black shirt, with her small arm over his shoulder. The man’s widow said she watched helplessly as the pair drowned. The haunting image reminded many of the iconic photo of Aylan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed up in 2015 on a Turkish beach.

Meanwhile, John Sanders, the acting US Customs and Border Protection commissioner, is leaving his jobamid the growing controversy over migrant children being held in deplorable conditions in facilities near the border. About 100 children were actuallymoved back to a facility in Clint, Texas, that was singled out for having major health and hygiene problems, including a reported lack of soap. Finally, the Housepassed a $4.5 billion border aid billthat contains provisions for the treatment of migrant children. The White House said it “strongly opposes” the bill and threatened to veto it.

3. Campaign 2020

Welcome to the Democratic debates pre-game show. Twenty Democrats will take to the stage in Miami tonight and tomorrow in the first official clash of the 2020 election cycle. The way the candidates have been sorted for this two-night event, Night One has the feel of an undercard, CNN’s Julian Zelizer says. The surging Elizabeth Warrenwill be center stage among a group of low-polling challengers. Night Two is more like a main event, with current front-runner Joe Biden facing off against high-polling competitors like Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris. Here are answers to the top questionsabout every Democratic presidential candidate. Find out how the 2020 Dems are preppingfor the first debate. Andclick for our latest 2020 election coverage, with info on candidates, issues and polls. Here’s how to watch.

4. World population

In a little less than a decade, India will overtake China as the world’s most populous country. This eye-popping prediction comes from a new UN report, which says India will have more people than China by 2027. The two countries account for about 37% of the entire global population of 7.7 billion. By 2050, the world’s population will be 9.7 billion, the report predicts. A century earlier, that tally was 2.6 billion. More than half the predicted global population by 2050 will be clustered in just nine countries: the US, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Indonesia and Egypt.

5. Zimbabwe

Want an elephant? Zimbabwe has plenty it wants to unload. The African country wants to sell its wild elephants. Zimbabwe has an estimated 84,000 elephants but can only afford to care for about 50,000, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said during a wildlife summit. Residents and farmers in rural communities also complain about elephants invading their lands and destroying crops. Angola might be a buyer, as that country looks to reintroduce elephant populations into wildlife areas where land mines have been removed. Zimbabwe also wants the global ban on the ivory trade lifted, so that it can sell its ivory and rhino horn stockpile. Selling the stockpile, which Mnangagwa says is worth $600 million, would help Zimbabwe fund conservation efforts.

THIS JUST IN …

Trump-Kim III?

The US and North Korea are reportedly in talks toset up a third summitbetween President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

BREAKFAST BROWSE

His hero

Is Gritty the world’s greatest mascot? He is for a 7-year-old Philadelphia Flyers fan who has Gritty’s googly-eyed face on his prosthetic leg.

‘I’m not homeless, not now, thanks to her’ 

The woman posted a pic of a homeless man sleeping in a McDonald’s to shame him. Instead, people used it as a rallying cryto help him.

Solar sports

“Soccer balls” in space? The Hubble Space Telescope has found some molecules shaped just like them in the depths beyond our solar system.

Special service

The 5-year-old boy with cancerdreamed of becoming a solider. Dozens of service members attended his funeral.

Workplace moves

In two years, if you want to see “The Office” you won’t be able to watch it on Netflix. NBC is moving the classic sitcom to its own streaming service.

TODAY’S QUOTE

“Please help me before its to(o) late.”

Henry Clay Stewart, a 60-year-old man who died in a Virginia jail after trying unsuccessfully to get medical assistance for almost a month. A CNN investigation exposes preventable deathsand dangerous care that government agencies have failed to stop.

TODAY’S NUMBER

20 million

The number of manufacturing jobs that robots could take by 2030, according to a new report. We warned you they were coming for us.

TODAY’S WEATHER

AND FINALLY

You’re going to eat THAT?

Watch these kids try their parents’ least favorite foods. Because if mom and dad hate it, it’s probably good, right kids? (Click to view.)