Trump jokes about scoring ticket to heaven by brokering Ukraine peace

President Donald Trump on Tuesday joked about scoring a ticket to heaven by brokering an elusive peace deal in Ukraine after a high-stakes summit meeting with European allies at the White House.

A day after the extraordinary gathering of leaders claimed some modest progress toward talks with Russia, Trump predicted the pearly gates would swing wide open for him if he can achieve a breakthrough to end the 3-1/2-year-long war.

“If I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed, I think that’s pretty (good),” he told Fox News. “I want to try to get to heaven if possible.” Trump wryly conceded that so far he’s fallen short of what might be required to gain favor with St. Peter.

“I’m hearing that I’m not doing well,” he said. “I am really at the bottom of the totem pole.” Trump suggested he still has a tricky path ahead to arrange a face-to-face meeting between Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, noting that both men need to make concessions.

—New York Daily News

University of Georgia, Georgia Southern remove LGBTQ language from nondiscrimination policy

ATLANTA — Two of Georgia’s largest universities quietly removed language from their nondiscrimination policies earlier this year, a move some fear will lead to increased harassment of LGBTQ students as the new semester begins.

In March, the University of Georgia updated its policy by eliminating the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” Georgia Southern University followed suit a few months later; while its previous policy said the school prohibits discrimination, harassment and retaliation based on a dozen categories, it has removed “sexual orientation,” “gender identity or expression” and “political affiliation” from the list.

The removals “put the university at a disadvantage in trying to push back against any harassment or bad conduct that happens on the campus,” said Gregory Nevins, senior counsel for Lambda Legal, a national civil rights organization that defends LGBTQ communities.

Both schools said they made the changes to align their language with the University System of Georgia’s, which oversees the state’s 26 public universities and updated its own policy last fall.

—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Why the FDA is warning you not to eat certain shrimp from Walmart

Possible contamination of shrimp by a radioisotope led the FDA to issue a do-not-eat-or-sell warning Tuesday for three lots of frozen shrimp sold under Walmart’s Great Value brand.

The primary concern isn’t that there’s enough Cesium-137 in Great Value Frozen Raw White Vannamei Shrimp to cause immediate health problems, but that it could be part of repeated low level exposure that increases the risk of cancer “from damage to the DNA within living cells of the body.”

This involves Great Value Frozen Raw White Vannamei Shrimp in 2-pound bags with lot Nos. 8005538-1, 39-1, 40-1, all with a best by date of 3/15/2027. Neither Walmart nor Indonesia’s BMS Foods, aka PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati, has issued a recall, although the FDA has recommended Walmart do so.

The big box colossus that accounts for over 20% of U.S. grocery sales said the shrimp went to stores in Florida, Missouri, Kentucky, Texas, Georgia, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma and West Virginia.

—Miami Herald

Up to 300,000 Syrians possibly missing under Assad family rule

DAMASCUS, Syria — A Syrian commission for missing persons estimated that between 120,000 and 300,000 people have gone missing during more than five decades of authoritarian rule by the Assad family.

Mohammed Reda Jalkhi, the head of the National Commission for Missing Persons, said on Monday evening that between 120,000 and 300,000 people have gone missing since 1970.

"But the actual number may be much higher," he told state news agency SANA. He said that the governmental commission mandate covers the period from 1970 until now.

Hafez Assad served as president of Syria from 1971 till his death in 2000, after which his son, Bashar Assad, took over until he was overthrown by an Islamist-led rebel alliance in December. Jalkhi said that the commission, which was formed in May, has so far documented 63 mass graves and they have received information about other locations that are yet to be verified.

—dpa