Yevgeny Prigozhin accumulated wealth, influence and international intrigue through his relationship with Vladimir Putin, but for nearly 24 hours in June he appeared to have turned his Wagner mercenary force against Putin's regime.
The latest: Just weeks after his short-lived rebellion, Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a private plane that crashed and killed all of those on board in Russia's Tver region on Wednesday, Russian media reported, citing the country's aviation authority.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a briefing with reporters on Tuesday that "there are still ways to travel" to get a mega-deal with Riyadh that could include a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Why it matters: Sullivan's comments appeared to be an attempt to try to lower expectations after a flurry of press reports suggested an agreement could be close.
Japan will begin releasing more than 1 million metric tons of treated radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean starting Thursday.
Why it matters: Though the plan has been deemed safe by the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has faced pushback from fishing groups and neighboring countries.
Addressing the dire nationwide teacher shortages by lowering standards for becoming a teacher is only putting a Band-Aid on a biggerproblem and could end up backfiring, education experts say.
Driving the news: Houston Independent School District, one of the largest in the country, is seeking totemporarily hire uncertified teachers to fill dozens of vacancies after "extraordinary efforts" to recruit certified teachers, according to the district.
The takeover of the Houston Independent School District by the state of Texas is part of a national trend that is likely to accelerate amid political conflicts and pressures to close achievement gaps, experts tell Axios.
Why it matters: The student population in the nation's public schools is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse, but disparities, particularly for Black and Latino students, have worsened — especially after the COVID-19 pandemic stalled academic progress for many elementary and middle schoolers and reversed years of gains.
