 Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett Israel will vote to dissolve the Knesset, its unicameral parliament, in the next week and hold its fifth round of elections in less than four years, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Monday. Bennett's coalition has been hindered in previous weeks by the defection of right-wing lawmakers and the loss of his governing majority. According to a coalition agreement, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will take over as interim prime minister until elections are held in October or November. More: - Bennett and Lapid said they were unable to hold together their governing coalition, which was cobbled together from a hodgepodge of parties from across the political spectrum to oust former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2021.
- Netanyahu's party is leading in Israeli polls, and the current Knesset's dissolution may precipitate his return to power.
- Netanyahu has attempted to hasten the coalition's collapse by rallying other members of the political opposition to create legislative gridlock.
- Several members of Bennett's right-wing party objected to what they saw as unacceptable compromises in an effort to keep the coalition together.
- President Biden's visit to Israel in July is expected to go ahead as scheduled.
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 The omicron variant of coronavirus is less likely to cause long COVID than delta, according to new U.K. research. In a peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet, 4.5% of the 56,003 omicron patients analyzed experienced long COVID, compared to 10.8% of the 41,361 people with delta infections. However, given omicron's heightened contagiousness and higher number of infections, more people are expected to experience long COVID with omicron. More: - The researchers said their results held after controlling for age group and vaccine status.
- Long COVID can include several symptoms, including fatigue, cough, brain fog, and headaches. In this study, Long COVID was defined as "having new or ongoing symptoms 4 weeks or more after the start of acute COVID-19."
- The study could not determine the risk of long COVID in unvaccinated populations or children, given insufficient data.
- The research may also be limited by its source data, which came from a self-reporting app in the U.K.
- Infectious disease expert Dr. Marc Siegel said he expects the pandemic, going forward, will result in "a semi-permanent phase of persistent disease, but less severe outcomes."
- Scientists still aren't sure what causes long COVID, though researchers are analyzing several theories, including chronic blood vessel damage and immune systems gone "haywire" after an initial infection.
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 A message from VELOCITY GLOBAL HR leaders face unprecedented challenges keeping teams happy, following a shift to remote work and an added emphasis on mental well-being in the office. Now, employees are leaving companies who cannot adapt to the quickly changing tides, and employee retention is a top priority for many HR teams. Velocity Global’s guide to global employee retention includes 18 proven strategies that keep your workforce engaged and, more importantly, on board. In the guide, you will learn: - Why employees are leaving jobs in record numbers
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 Russian forces claim to have taken control of Toshkivka, a small town southeast of the Sievierodonetsk pocket in eastern Ukraine, one of the last remaining metropolitan areas in the region held by Ukraine. Sievierodonetsk fell almost entirely to Russian forces last week, and its twin city Lysychansk is expecting a major assault in the coming days. As Russian troops move forward in the region, they could effectively cut off supply lines to Ukrainian forces in both cities. More: - Sievierodonetsk has been the latest focal point of the Russian military in its renewed effort to overtake the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
- Russian troops also control the nearby village of Metolkine, regional military governor Serhiy Haidai confirmed.
- The Ukrainian military strategy is to draw Russian troops into close-quarters combat in urban streets in order to neutralize Russia's advanced military superiority.
- However, if Russia manages to cut off supply lines into the city, Ukraine's troops will be stuck without resources or an escape route.
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 SPOTLIGHT: A 661-lb stingray caught in the Mekong river may be the largest freshwater fish ever discovered, according to Cambodian and American scientists. The 13-foot-long stingray was caught on June 13 near Stung Treng in southern Cambodia by a fisherman who alerted the Wonders of the Mekong project, a collaboration of U.S. and Cambodian researchers. More: - The stingray broke the previous, unofficial record of a 646-lb stingray discovered in the Mekong in Thailand in 2005.
- The researchers hope the new discovery draws attention to environmental challenges in the Mekong, including habitat fragmentation due to dam-building.
- Giant stingrays are frequently found in the area, leading scientists to speculate that the region is a "spawning hotspot."
- Residents named the record-setting stingray "Boramy," which means "full moon" in Khmer.
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 A message from KALSHI Event contracts are here. Bloomberg announces a new market type. Last week, Bloomberg covered the story of the first CFTC regulated prediction market, Kalshi. For the first time, traders now have the ability to buy the asset class: regulated Event Contracts. We couldn’t believe it when we saw that these markets have been live for almost a year. With inflation at 8.3% and interest rates climbing 50 bips each month traders are looking to get their feet wet in new markets. While the S&P 500 is down 14% on the year, the top 10% of traders on Kalshi’s exchange are enjoying an average 59% ROI. Instead of trading noise in the stock market, predict outcomes of events. Or if you want to stick with what you know, trade options on stock indices with as little as $1. For a limited time we're giving readers of Inside.com exclusive access. Get priority access today
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 Former Fox News host Melissa Francis received a $15M settlement from the network after she threatened a pay-disparity lawsuit alleging gender discrimination. Francis reportedly kept an updated spreadsheet with data on on-air host compensation, and found that men consistently were paid several times more than women. Francis reportedly addressed these concerns with a former legal affairs EVP at Fox in 2019, who told her: "That's how the world works. Women make less. It's just a fact." Fox News disputes those comments were made during the conversation. More: - Francis hosted shows on Fox News and Fox Business Network from 2012 to 2020.
- She was in arbitration with the company in August 2020 but was abruptly canceled from all further appearances in October of that year.
- She did not officially resign from Fox News until February 2021, before filing a claim with New York State's Labor Department.
- Fox News has not confirmed the $15M settlement and says "her allegations were entirely without merit."
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 Thousands of students protested Monday in Colombo, the commercial capital of Sri Lanka, demanding the resignations of the country's president and prime minister. The students blame the Sri Lankan government for an economic crisis that has caused shortages of food, gas, and medicine. Earlier on Monday, Sri Lankan military troops opened fire, wounding seven, on a small group that was rioting at a Visuvamadu gas station. More: - Sri Lanka has initiated a two-week partial government shutdown to conserve fuel. Schools have also been closed.
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is considering a bailout to help the bankrupt nation pay off debt and restart crucial imports.
- President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has declined to resign, though he admitted he made mistakes in the early days of the current crisis.
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- More than 5,000 U.S. flights were canceled over the holiday weekend due to a combination of issues, including bad weather and staffing shortages.
- Brazilian police say they are searching for five more suspects accused of helping hide the bodies of a British journalist and an indigenous expert who were murdered this month.
- A "lost" episode of "Sesame Street" that hasn't aired since February 1976 was posted to YouTube this weekend. The episode features Margaret Hamilton reprising her role as The Wicked Witch of the West; the show received numerous complaints from parents at the time who thought the episode was too scary for children.
- Orlando Magic president Jeff Weltman says the team does not yet know what it will do with the No. 1 overall pick in this Thursday's NBA draft. The Magic could draft Auburn's Jabari Smith Jr., Gonzaga's Chet Holmgren, another player, or trade the pick.
- The New York Public Library is giving away 500,000 books this summer across 92 locations. The goal, the library system says, is to help keep kids busy over the summer and help families build their home libraries.
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 |  | Jonathan Harris is a writer and editor who lives in Los Angeles. |  | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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