While activists and celebrities protest a bill in Texas, Ohio just enacted legislation of its own.

A thousand miles from Austin, Texas, Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed new restrictions Sunday night as part of a new state budget. Ohio will soon require that women receive ultrasounds before having abortions, and the state will ban public hospitals from having written agreements with abortion clinics to receive women for further care after they have elective abortions.

Those laws won’t take effect for 90 days, according to Kasich’s office.

But new laws, already passed and signed earlier this year, went into effect Monday in Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi and South Dakota. Another in Montana, and part of a law in Alabama, would have taken effect but were blocked by federal courts. All were passed by GOP-controlled state legislatures and signed by GOP governors.

Here’s what they do:

• Alabama – HB 57: Starting Monday, women in Alabama aren’t able to obtain “abortion pills” via telemedicine. Planned Parenthood has said that making medication abortions, like the RU-486 pill, available to women via video conference provides safe access to women who may live far away from a clinic. National Right to Life has suggested that supplying the pills without in-person medical supervision, and perhaps without a hospital nearby, can put women in danger. Now, abortion doctors in Alabama must examine women before prescribing abortion pills.

  When performing abortions on minors, doctors now must ask Alabama patients to state the name and age of the unborn fetus’s father. The patients can refuse, but the doctors have to ask.

  Signed in April by Republican Gov. Rob Bentley, the new law also classifies abortion clinics as “ambulatory health” centers – clinics that provide outpatient surgery – requiring them to meet the same fire codes. They must submit architectural drawings and sprinkler plans within 180 days and receive a certificate of compliance within a year.

  For the time being, a federal judge has blocked a provision requiring that abortion doctors in Alabama have hospital-admitting privileges. The ACLU and Planned Parenthood filed suit over that provision in federal district court.

•  Indiana – SB 371: Women must now be given ultrasounds before getting abortions in Indiana, under a new law signed by Republican Gov. Mike Pence on May 1. Any health care provider that prescribes abortion pills must now abide by the same regulations as medical abortion clinics, and the secretary of state’s office must now draft a new set of regulations for sanitation standards, staff qualifications, necessary emergency equipment and other requirements for clinics.

  Medication abortions can no longer be prescribed via telemedicine consultations: Abortion doctors or nurses must meet with women in person and discuss the health risks of taking an abortion pill.

• Kansas – HB 2253: Under what’s known as a “sex-selection abortion ban,” Kansas now bans doctors from performing an abortion if they know it’s being sought because of the fetus’ sex.

  Signed in April by Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, the new law also requires abortion doctors to tell their patients that after 20 weeks, a fetus can feel pain and that “the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being,” as the bill puts it. Doctors also must warn women that having abortions puts them at greater risk of breast cancer – a point that’s up for debate. The National Cancer Institute writes, on a Web page about such a potential risk, that “[N]ewer studies consistently showed no association between induced and spontaneous abortions and breast cancer risk.” Kansas abortion providers are also banned from participating in public-school sex education.

  In 2014, the law will block some tax breaks that abortion clinics enjoy as health care providers and prevent women from deducting abortion expenses from their state income taxes, the Associated Press reported.

• Kansas – SB 142: Kansas women can no longer sue doctors for withholding information that leads them to decide against having an abortion, under this law signed by Brownback earlier in April. The bill bars women from seeking “wrongful life” or “wrongful birth” claims in court against doctors. If a child is born with birth defects, that child cannot sue – and no one can sue on his or her behalf – if a doctor omitted information that would have caused the mother to choose an abortion.

• Mississippi – SB 2795: In another ban on telemedicine abortion-pill prescriptions, Mississippi now requires doctors prescribing medication abortions to first examine women seeking them and to schedule follow-up visits after women induce abortions. Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican, signed the bill into law in April.

• South Dakota – HB 1237: Women seeking abortions in South Dakota must now wait 72 hours after consulting with an abortion doctor, and those hours must fall on business days. Under this law signed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard, a Republican, in late March, weekends and holidays don’t count in the 72-hour period.

Montana would have made it six states, as a new law requires girls under 18 to gain parental consent before receiving abortions. Enacted by the heavily Republican legislature in April over the objections of Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, the law was set to take effect July 1, but a federal judge temporarily blocked it last month after Planned Parenthood of Montana sued to overturn it.

Compiled by ABC News’ Jayce Henderson, Amanda VanAllen, Carrie Halperin, Will Cantine and J.P. Lawrence

NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY
ABC News’ Kirit Radia: “Edward Snowden Blasts Obama ‘Deception‘: WikiLeaks” Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who claimed to be the source of reports revealing secret U.S. government surveillance programs, broke his silence today in a defiant statement directed at President Obama, according to the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks. LINK 

The Hills’ Jeremy Herb and Justin Sink: “Putin keeps Obama, Washington on edge over Snowden end game” Vladimir Putin’s surprise suggestion Monday that his country could accept an asylum request from Edward Snowden is raising new questions in Washington about what the mercurial Russia leader wants. Experts on U.S.-Russia relations say the drama could imperil an already icy relationship between the United States and Russia as officials grapple with deciphering the complex motives driving Putin. LINK

USA Today’s Anna Arutunyan and Aaron Tilton: “Snowden asks to stay in Russia, Putin says he must stop leaks” Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier Monday that Snowden would have to stop leaking U.S. secrets if he wanted to be granted asylum in Russia, where Snowden has been hiding out for eight days. Putin insisted that Russia is not going to extradite Snowden to the USA, refusing a demand from President Obama that he be handed over to the USA to face charges of espionage. LINK

PRESIDENT OBAMA IN AFRICA
The Washington Times’ Dave Boyer: “Bush, Obama together in Africa as president praises predecessor” President Obama blames former President George W. Bush for many of America’s problems, but as the two men prepare for an improbable meeting Tuesday in the East African nation of Tanzania, Mr. Obama is finding reason to praise his predecessor. The White House announced Monday that Mr. Bush would join Mr. Obama in Dar es Salaam to lay a wreath commemorating the victims of the 1998 terrorist bombings at the U.S. embassies in Tanzania in Kenya. Mr. Bush and his wife, former first lady Laura Bush, are promoting women’s health issues in East Africa on a trip that coincides with Mr. Obama’s weeklong tour of the continent. LINK

IMMIGRATION REFORM
The New York Daily News’ Adam Edelman: “Jeb Bush pushes House Republicans to pass immigration reform” Former Florida governor and potential 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush is joining a growing number of conservative Republicans in calling for the U.S. House of Representatives to pass immigration reform. “No Republican would vote for legislation that stifled economic growth, promoted illegal immigration, added to the welfare rolls and failed to ensure a secure border. LINK

MIDDLE EAST
The Wall Street Journal’s Matt Bradley and Reem Abdellatif: “Egypt Army Issues Ultimatum” The leaders of Egypt’s military warned they would intervene in the country’s political crisis if President Mohammed Morsi fails to resolve it within 48 hours, raising the prospect of a military takeover just one day after millions of Egyptians marched to demand the president’s resignation. LINK

The New York Times’ David D. Kirkpatrick and Kareem Fahim: “Morsi Faces Ultimatum as Allies Speak of Military ‘Coup’” Egypt entered a perilous 48 hours on Monday when the military delivered an ultimatum to the country’s first democratically elected president, hundreds of thousands of protesters renewed calls to oust him from office and the president’s Islamists allies vowed to take to the streets to stop what they called “a military coup.” LINK

Politico’s Josh Gerstein: “Egypt Painfully Familar for Obama” President Barack Obama insisted Monday that he isn’t taking sides in the standoff between Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and millions of protesters who’ve taken to the streets to protest his policies. But that’s not likely to be enough for many in those angry crowds, who seem firmly convinced that the White House has bolstered the Muslim Brotherhood leader, even as ordinary Egyptians — and some in his own cabinet — have grown increasingly dissatisfied with his rule. LINK

ABC NEWS VIDEO
Obama Holds Press Conference With Tanzania Leader, Praises Bush LINK

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Two and half years after being shot in the head, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords visited a shooting range and fired a gun, her first stop on a seven-state, seven-day bus tour to push for expanded background checks for firearms purchases.

Accompanied by her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, on their “Rights and Responsibilities Tour,” Giffords, wearing a green cardigan and an arm brace, smiled and waved after she shot the gun at the Clark County Shooting Complex in Las Vegas. Kelly also got in some target practice at the range.

This was the first time Giffords shot a gun since a mentally ill man shot her and killed six others in her congressional district in Tucson, Ariz., in early 2011.

Credit: KTNV 

Longtime Giffords spokeswoman Pia Carusone said Kelly and Giffords will be meeting on the tour with a “coalition of unlikely allies that support commonsense gun measures,” likely including “gun owners, Republicans, independents, hunters, all sort of people.”

Giffords and Kelly’s spirits were high and Monday was a “great kick-off” to what is going to be a “really strong tour,” Carusone said.

The tour also visited the Latin Chamber of Commerce and met with community leaders today before heading off to its next stop: Anchorage, Alaska.

In April, the Senate defeated legislation that called for tighter background checks on gun purchases, and Giffords and Kelly will stop in some of the states with senators who voted against the measure in an bid to get them to switch their votes.

Carusone noted that Kelly and Giffords potentially could meet with senators who voted against the Manchin-Toomey background check proposal and their plan is to meet with those senators that “are in state and available.”

“We are with Republicans [on the tour who] we may disagree with on other issues, but on this issue they want bipartisanship and they want Congress to make some progress on this,” Carusone said.

Besides Nevada and Alaska, the tour also will stop in North Dakota, North Carolina, Ohio, Maine and New Hampshire.

The goal is to apply pressure to Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev.; Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska; Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., all of whom voted against the legislation.

Giffords and Kelly will also stop in North Carolina to thank Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan and Maine to thank Republican Sen. Susan Collins for supporting the background-check legislation.

The Arizona Democrat’s group commissioned polling in individual states, which showed there is wide support for background checks in the states where senators voted against the legislation. An ABC News poll in April showed 86 percent of Americans support extending background checks to gun sales at gun shows and online.

“We don’t rule out any option that gets us to the place where members of Congress will do what the American people are asking,” Kelly said in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday when asked whether Kelly and Giffords’ group, Americans for Responsible Solutions, would consider supporting primary challenges to Democrats who voted against the Manchin-Toomey background check proposal.

Besides Begich and Heitkamp, those Democrats are Max Baucus of Montana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. Begich and Pryor are running for re-election in 2014.

The pace of the tour is jam packed and, despite the distance from the lower 48 states, Carusone said it was important for them to travel to Alaska, adding that the state is “extremely unique,” but in many ways similar to Giffords’ native southern Arizona.

“A lot of people skip Alaska, and we didn’t want to do that. We are going up there to learn, but the vibe is similar to southern Arizona,” Carusone said.

She added that Alaskans, like Arizonans, feel “far from the federal government” and have a strong “libertarian streak.”

In January, Giffords and Kelly announced the creation of Americans for Responsible Solutions, and sat down with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer to discuss the initiative and mark the second anniversary of the Tucson shooting. Giffords and Kelly said the December shooting at the Sandy Hook School meant they had to do something more, with Giffords telling Sawyer, “Enough.”

“After the shooting in Tucson, there was talk about addressing some of these issues, [and] again after [a movie theater massacre in] Aurora,” Colo., Kelly said. “I’m hopeful that this time is different, and I think it is. Twenty first-graders’ being murdered in their classrooms is a very personal thing for everybody.”

ABC News’ Michael Falcone contributed to this report. 

During an exclusive Web interview with “This Week,” on Sunday, Peggy Noonan, who served as a speechwriter to former President Ronald Reagan, said the late GOP icon would not be a RINO, or “Republican in Name Only,” if he were operating in today’s political climate.

“I think Ronald Reagan now would be a popular figure and I think he would have sympathy for many of the tea party impulses economically with regard to, ‘Please make the government less oppressive, less powerful, less squishing down the American people,’” Noonan, now a Wall Street Journal columnist, said of the former president who died in 2004 at age 93.

“Reagan would be very sympathetic to that. I mean if Reagan had been born in 1940 … they would be talking about him now as a possible presidential nominee. So I think that’s where he’d be.”

Noonan’s comments follow statements in recent years by other prominent Republicans, such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, questioning the ability of Reagan to thrive in today’s Republican Party.

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Credit: John Flavell/AP Photo, Tom Williams/Getty Images

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell got a challenger for his U.S. Senate seat on Monday and her name is Alison Lundergan Grimes.

“I have met with my supporters. We have had a great conversation and determined and decided that we can next make the best move, the best difference in the commonwealth of Kentucky by running for the U.S. Senate,”  Grimes said at a news conference in Frankfort, Ky.

“Over the course of the past 12 weeks  I have taken the time necessary to gather all the facts to make truly an informed decision and that includes listening to my supporters all across this state,” Grimes said. “Make no mistake members of the media this due diligence was not reluctance, it was not hesitancy, but rather a deliberate gathering of all the necessary facts to make a decision that should not be taken lightly. During this process the question never was: ‘Is Mitch McConnell vulnerable? Does Kentucky deserve a change?’ The answer to both of those two questions remains and is yes. The question before my supporters which we have been working diligently on is, ‘How best can we continue to make a difference and move this commonwealth forward.”.

Grimes said she is “no stranger to being an underdog” and McConnell’s ads already running “are based out of fear, of losing his 30 year grip on power and this Kentucky woman does not believe the voters of Kentucky will be fooled that easily.”

The announcement from Grimes, the Kentucky secretary of state who is not a national figure like her opponent, was highly anticipated since the 34-year-old is thought to be the Democrats’ best chance at defeating McConnell. Local polling has shown the Kentucky Republican is vulnerable, but until Monday, no high-profile Democrat had mounted a challenge.

“Accepting the invitation from countless Washington liberals to become President Obama’s Kentucky candidate was a courageous decision by Alison Lundergan Grimes and I look forward to a respectful exchange of ideas,” McConnell said in a statement shortly after the announcement.

Grimes’ spokesperson Jonathan Hurst told ABC News earlier today that the announcement was  not  ”an official roll out,”  and that an actual campaign kick-off would come later. At the event, Grimes said she would be forming the campaign over the next two weeks.

National Democrats responded to Grimes’ decision with Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, saying in a statement that the “race is now a toss up.”

“Mitch McConnell is the most unpopular incumbent in the entire country,” Cecil said. “He is a relic of the past and a symbol of everything that is wrong with Washington. Kentuckians want a change…We expect to preserve our majority next year by defending strong incumbents and playing offense in Kentucky and Georgia. We have a long road to travel, but Republicans are making our job a little easier each day, failing to recruit strong candidates and expand the playing field.”

National Republicans weighed in on the news before Grimes officially announced with National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee strategist Brad Dayspring saying in a statement before her announcement, “If this is a rollout to a Senate campaign it’s amongst the worst in history. It is a total fumble to launch just as folks prepare for a holiday week.”

In a preview of how Republicans will frame Grimes, Dayspring said the announcement is “even more bizarre for Alison Grimes in Kentucky, who watched the president that she nominated at the Democratic National Convention last summer just declare a war on coal and Kentucky families.”

Ashley Judd is the most high-profile Democrat who took a pass on the race, announcing in March she would not run after seriously considering a bid. In May, Judd’s most vocal supporter, Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., urged Grimes to make an announcement soon saying it was “very important to do it now” and there were “others waiting in the wings” and Democrats want to “avoid an expensive primary.”

After the news Yarmuth immediately responded saying in a statement, “I’m excited that Alison has decided to make the race. She will be a formidable candidate and a great contrast to Sen. McConnell. If she is our party’s nominee, she will have no more enthusiastic supporter and tireless campaigner than me.”

In March, Grimes met with former President Bill Clinton, a close family friend who encouraged Grimes to consider taking on McConnell, assuring he would support her. Clinton told Grimes then that she has “unlimited potential.”

The Clintons are longtime friends and allies of Grimes’s father, Jerry Lundergan, a former state party chairman, and Grimes herself who became secretary of state in 2011 after beating her primary challenger who was backed by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear. Jerry Lundergan was a strong supporter of Bill Clinton, but also of Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid in 2008, and they remain close.

Despite there being no marquee Democrat in the race until now, there are already ads on both sides.

A pro-McConnell super PAC Kentuckians for Strong Leadership released ads earlier this month, an answer to two Democratic groups that aired a volley of TV commercials earlier this month attacking McConnell.

According to a strategist with the group, Kentuckians for Strong Leadership spent $260,000 on the ads, which will run on broadcast and cable in the state. That’s roughly $10,000 more than what two Democratic groups, the Senate Majority PAC and an allied organization, Patriot Majority USA spent on their ad.

As far back as February, the McConnell campaign began running online videos, and later a series of television ads, in support of his re-election bid even though he does not yet have a viable Democratic opponent.

Former Miss America Heather French Henry is still considering jumping into the race, as is  Bill Garmer, an attorney and former state Democratic Party chairman, and Tom Fitzgerald, an environmental attorney, but this news is sure to affect their decisions.

There are three lesser known Democrats who have formally declared their candidacies:  University of Louisville professor Greig Leichty, Louisville music promoter Bennie J. Smith, and building contractor and former congressional candidate Ed Marksberry.

This story has been updated since it was first posted.

(Getty Images)

A roster of celebrity women will rally this week on behalf of Texas Democrats as they try for a second time to stop state Republicans from pushing through a restrictive anti-abortion bill.

Celebrity singer Natalie Maines, “Friday Night Lights” and “Nashville” actress Connie Britton, actress Lisa Edelstein of “House” and Stephanie March of “Law & Order: SVU” have joined Planned Parenthood in the organization’s effort to aid Texas Democrats in round two of their fight against a 20-week abortion ban and other restrictions on abortion facilities that are aimed a closing a majority of clinics in the state.

Republican Gov. Rick Perry called on lawmakers to return to Austin for another special session after State Sen. Wendy Davis successfully stopped Republicans last week from approving the law with a 11-hour filibuster.

But as lawmakers return to the Capitol for a second special legislative session today, “pro-choice” forces are rallying public support for their cause, all the while knowing that, unlike last week, time is not on their side.

The 30-day session gives Republicans, who hold wide majorities in both the state House and Senate, plenty of time to try whatever legislative maneuvers are necessary to move the bill through.

Maines, lead singer of the country group the Dixie Chicks, Edelstein and March will all join Planned Parenthood at a rally at the state Capitol today. They will be joined by Davis, Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, and Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Britton, who famously played Tami Taylor, wife of a Texas High School football coach on the cult hit show “Friday Night Nights,” has commissioned a “WWTTD? What Would Tami Taylor Do” T-shirt for the cause.

“The character Tami on ‘Friday Night Lights’ is a Texas woman deeply committed to her community and to standing up for what is right for her neighbors and the people she loves,” Britton said in a statement.

“I have been inspired by how people around the country have united to stand with the women of Texas, and I can’t help but think that, in this moment, we all have the opportunity to join with and become strong, powerful Texas men and women.”

The shirt will be available for the month of July.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania – This is unprecedented: two U.S. presidents will make a joint public appearance in Africa Tuesday.

Former President George W. Bush will join President Obama in the morning at a wreath-laying ceremony at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to honor the victims of the 1998 bombing there, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said today.

The event will be at 10 a.m. local time, 3 a.m. ET.

First ladies Michelle Obama and Laura Bush will also be appearing together on stage here at a First Ladies Summit hosted by Laura Bush.  That joint appearance will be moderated by ABC News’ Cokie Roberts.

Neither George W. Bush nor Obama is expected to speak at the event.

Obama has yet to shape a policy legacy for Africa comparable to that of his predecessor and he has been criticized for the perception that he has done too little for the continent.

Obama told reporters Monday that George W. Bush deserves “enormous credit” for his foreign policy aid programs, like PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

“This is one of his crowning achievements,” Obama told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl. “Because of the commitment of the Bush administration and the American people, millions of people’s lives have been saved.

“There has been some suggestion that somehow, we’ve reduced our commitment there. The fact of the matter is, is that we are serving four times the number of people today than we were when PEPFAR first began. But because we’ve gotten better at it and more efficient at it, we’re doing it at reduced cost,” he added.

In shaping his own legacy, Obama has been touting his administration’s plans to promote trade with African economies, boost private investment and increase access to electricity.

“Throughout Africa, we are looking at a new model that’s based not just on aid and assistance but on trade and partnership,” he said.

“What we want to do is use whatever monies that we’re providing to build capacity. So we don’t want to just provide the medicine; we want to help build the health infrastructures that allow Tanzanians to improve their overall health systems. We don’t want to just provide food; we want to increase food self-sufficiency,” he said.

Credit: Tom Williams/Getty Images

By MICHAEL FALCONE (@michaelpfalcone)

NOTABLES

• ALL A-LOAN: Congress has blown another deadline. Before they left for recess, lawmakers in Washington failed to head off an increase in interest rates on certain types of student loans, meaning rates on those loans are going to double today — from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. As FUSION’S EMILY DE RUY points out: “Subsidized Stafford loans are the only type of loan impacted, and the increase will apply to new loans, not existing ones. That means that if you’re going to be a junior in college, rates on any subsidized Stafford loans you took out during your freshman and sophomore years won’t change. But here’s some potentially good news: If Congress reaches an agreement in the future, they can make the rate hike retroactive, meaning the increase could be reversible.” http://abcn.ws/1aV9OAX

• IMMIGRATION NATION: The Senate acted last week on the comprehensive immigration reform bill, and lawmakers are back in their states and districts for the July 4 holiday this week hearing from their constituents in town hall meetings and forums. But before leaving for recess, House Speaker John Boehner vowed that “the House is not going to take up and vote on whatever the Senate passes. We’re going to do our own bill through regular order, and it’ll be legislation that reflects the will of our majority and the will of the American people.” As ABC’s JIM AVILA and SERENA MARSHALL point out, it’s likely the House will produce several separate bills on border safety, high-skilled workers and employee verification, while the pathway to citizenship remains a major potential sticking point. MARK YOUR CALENDAR: The next key date in the House is July 10 when conservatives meet in the Republican Caucus with Speaker Boehner to decide how to proceed. http://abcn.ws/14CZdpk

• GABBY GIFFORDS — ROAD WARRIOR:  Former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, are hitting the road today to bring attention to their push for expanded background checks for gun purchasers — a proposal that failed in the Senate in April. Giffords and Kelly, founders of the super PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions, are embarking on a seven-day, cross-country tour that kicks off the in Las Vegas today and will take them to key states home to lawmakers they aim to persuade on the background check issue: July 2: Alaska; July 3: North Dakota; July 4: Ohio; July 5: New Hampshire; July 6: Maine; July 7: North Carolina. http://rightsandresponsibilitiestour.com/

PRESIDENTS 44 AND 43 MEET IN AFRICA: This is unprecedented — two U.S. presidents will make a joint public appearance in Africa tomorrow, ABC’s JONATHAN KARL reports. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said today that former President George W. Bush will join President Obama tomorrow morning at a wreath-laying ceremony at the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to honor the victims of the 1998 bombing.  The event will be at 10 a.m. local time, 3 a.m. Eastern First Ladies Michelle Obama and Laura Bush will also be appearing together — on stage at a conference of African First Ladies hosted by Mrs. Bush. That joint appearance will be moderated by ABC’s COKIE ROBERTS.

HAPPENING TODAY: The first family has arrived in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania where the president had a bilateral meeting with President Kikwete and will soon have a joint press conference, ABC’s MARY BRUCE notes. Later today, President Obama participates in a CEO roundtable. Afterward, he delivers remarks at a business forum. In the evening, the president and first lady attend an official dinner with President Kikwete.

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC’s RICK KLEIN: Congratulations, students. Your lesson today is how congressional dysfunction sometimes has less to do with partisan disagreements than simple, inexplicable incompetence. The House and Senate are out for the week, and the deadline for figuring out how to keep student-loan rates low passed with barely a mention in Washington. The interest rate on student loans is now twice what it was yesterday, for absolutely no good reason, but lots of bad reasons regarding why Congress can’t get its act together. The good news? Congress gets to write its own laws and make its own deadlines. This could all get solved before school starts again in the fall – except, there’s apparently no solving the dynamics that allow issues like this to fester this long in the first place.

ABC’s MICHAEL FALCONE: Here’s one debate invitation Vice President Joe Biden is likely to turn down: Biden’s appearance at a Virginia Democratic Party Jefferson Jackson Dinner in Richmond, Va. over the weekend on behalf of gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe has Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the Republican hopeful for governor, crying foul. Biden told the audience that the decision between McAuliffe and Cuccinelli “is about as stark a choice as you could imagine — a choice between the Virginia way and the tea party way,” he said, according to the Washington Post. Naturally, the Cuccinelli campaign responded by challenging Biden, himself, to a debate. “Terry McAuliffe and I are in complete agreement that this election is critically important to Virginia’s future,” Cuccinelli said in a statement. “But if he won’t defend his record and articulate his vision through debates, perhaps his surrogate, the vice president will.” In fact, the first debate between McAuliffe and Cuccinelli comes later this month when the Virginia Bar Association hosts both candidates for their first one-on-one face-off on July 20.

ABC’s SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: Calling it a “historic commitment” the Republican National Committee and five other GOP committees launched several new initiatives last week aimed at recruiting more female candidates and courting more women to join the party. ”We are not a coalition, we are not an outreach group,” RNC co-chair Sharon Day said at a press conference announcing the push. “We are the majority of the voters out there, we are 53 percent of the voters and this party understands this.” At the event at RNC headquarters ten female members of Congress spoke and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said “as a party we are here to support those who stand up to run and we are going to work hard to get more women to make that decision.” Emily’s List, a group with the goal of electing female candidates who support abortion rights, is the most direct opponent on the other side of this new initiative. They start recruiting possible candidates from the city council level onwards, supporting female politicians throughout their career, something these new GOP initiatives will try to do as well, but Emily’s List has been working on since 2001. Emily’s List president Stephanie Schriock actually sent out a memo to “pre-but” the GOP event writing, “Democrats are doing all of the heavy lifting” of working to get more women elected to office. ”Achieving gender parity in Congress is a huge undertaking, and it would happen a lot faster if Republicans were doing their fair share when it comes to recruiting and training women,” Schriock said. “But the truth is that GOP attempts to bring more women in to the fold are hollow, because the Party platform is to still hostile to policies that actually work for women.” http://abcn.ws/13cYz6p

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

LIFE AS A SYRIAN REFUGEE: A LOOK INSIDE THE WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST REFUGEE CAMP. Well over a million people have fled Syria to escape the war, and as more people continue to seek safety in refugee camps in bordering countries, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says it is a challenge to meet the Syrian refugees’ “basic needs” and “ensure their dignity.” In an exclusive interview with On The Radar’s MARTHA RADDATZ during a visit to the largest Syrian refugee camp in Jordan — now the second largest camp in the world — High Commissioner António Guterres says the Zaatari camp is “a place in the world where human tragedy is more evident than anywhere else.” “Here you can see how brutal the conflict has been, how dramatic the situation of the people is, and how difficult it is for us all to be able to support them to ensure their dignity,” Guterres said. For more of the interview with Guterres, and to hear what percent of Lebanon’s population is now composed of Syrian refugees, check out this episode of On The Radar. http://yhoo.it/129kl3w

BUZZ

JULIAN ASSANGE: ‘NO STOPPING’ RELEASE OF ADDITIONAL NSA SECRETS. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said Sunday morning in an exclusive interview with ABC’s GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS on “This Week” that there is no stopping the release of additional NSA secrets obtained by Edward Snowden, a former contract employee of the organization. “There is no stopping the publishing process at this stage.  Great care has been taken to make sure that Mr. Snowden can’t be pressured by any state to stop the publication process.  I mean, the United States, by canceling his passport, has left him for the moment marooned in Russia.  Is that really a great outcome by the State Department?  Is that really what it wanted to do?” Assange said, speaking from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, ABC’s KARI REA and BEN BELL report. “I think that every citizen has the right to their citizenship,” he continued. “To take someone’s principal component of citizenship, their passport, away from them is a disgrace.  Mr. Snowden has not been convicted of anything.  There are no international warrants out for his arrest.  To take a passport from a young man in a difficult situation like that is a disgrace.” http://abcn.ws/13fNfq2

NOTED: ASSANGE ON SNOWDEN’S NEXT MOVE — ‘ASYLUM IS A RIGHT WE ALL HAVE.’ Also on “This Week,” Assange told Stephanopoulos that the Wikileaks legal team has “been in contact with Mr. Snowden,” and praised the 30-year-old leaker. “He is a hero.  He has told the people of the world and the United States that there is mass unlawful interception of their communications, far beyond anything that happened under Nixon.  Obama can’t just turn around like Nixon did and said, it’s OK, if the president does it, if the president authorizes it,” he said. The United States has asked other countries to turn down Snowden’s requests for asylum. But world leaders have pushed back against that request. On Friday Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the president of Ecuador and asked him not to grant Snowden asylum. Assange called that phone call unacceptable. “Joseph Biden the day before yesterday personally called President Correa, trying to pressure him.  That’s not acceptable.  Asylum is a right that we all have.  It’s an international right.  The United States has been founded largely on accepting political refugees from other countries and has prospered by it.  Mr. Snowden has that right.  Ideally, he should be able to return to the United States,” he said. http://abcn.ws/13fNfq2

WENDY DAVIS CHIDES RICK PERRY OVER TEXAS ABORTION BILL. The Democratic state senator who is leading the fight against significant new restrictions on abortions in Texas said Gov. Rick Perry and other Republicans were hypocritical, claiming to support smaller government but actually trying to increase state intrusion in people’s lives. Wendy Davis, the lawmaker who single-handedly overcame and outlasted the Republican majority in the state senate last week, is preparing for another battle on Monday. Armed with her new-found fame in Democratic circles in Texas and across the nation, Davis vowed to fight even harder. “He’s awfully fond of talking the talk of small government,” Davis told ABC’s JEFF ZELENY, escalating an intense quarrel with Perry. “But this [anti-abortion legislation] is big government intrusion, there is no question about it.” Davis sat down with ABC News inside the Stage West Theatre in Fort Worth, where she worked her way from being a waitress to a Harvard-educated lawyer to a heroine in the eyes of many Democrats. She offered a window into the secrets of standing and talking for more than 11 straight hours during a legislative filibuster: her dusty running shoes (size 7 Mizuno, narrow); a catheter that allowed her to avoid bathroom breaks (“I came prepared,” she explained); and how she felt the spirit of her hero, the late Gov. Ann Richards, during her marathon session in the Capitol in Austin. http://abcn.ws/126Fnjm

NOTED: PEGGY NOONAN ON WENDY DAVIS — STANDING FOR ‘INFANTICIDE’. Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, appearing on the “This Week” roundtable on Sunday weighed in on Wendy Davis’ filibuster in Texas. “Here’s what — in the story of this young woman, she’s so spirited.  You know, she has such energy and she seems to have such commitment,” Noonan said. “But it seems to me — and I think it seems to many Americans — that what she is speaking for and standing for is something we would recognize as infanticide, late-term abortion, the taking of a little child’s life.  That is really, really serious.”

OBAMA URGES AFRICAN YOUTH TO LIVE UP TO MANDELA’S LEGACY. President Obama yesterday urged South Africa’s youth to continue the fight for equality and opportunity, as he challenged them to live up to the legacy of ailing civil rights icon Nelson Mandela, ABC’s MARY BRUCE reports from Cape Town. “Nelson Mandela showed us that one man’s courage can move the world. And he calls on us to make choices that reflect not our fears, but our hopes — in our own lives, and in the lives of our communities and our countries,” the president told a crowd of more than 1,000 at the University of Cape Town. Echoing Robert Kennedy’s 1966 “Ripple of Hope” speech at the same location, Obama told students that every voice can make a difference. “Think of how many ripples of hope it took to build a wave that would eventually come crashing down like a mighty stream,” he said. “If there’s any country in the world that shows the power of human beings to affect change, this is the one. You’ve shown us how a prisoner can become a president. You’ve shown us how bitter adversaries can reconcile. You’ve confronted crimes of hatred and intolerance with truth and love, and you wrote into your constitution the human rights that sustain freedom.” http://abcn.ws/15W2ejS

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: OBAMA VISITS MANDELA’S ROBBEN ISLAND CELL. With the world’s eyes on the ailing Nelson Mandela, President Obama walked in the footsteps of the man he’s called his personal hero over the weekend. Touring the prison on Robben Island, Obama stood alone in the stark “7B” cell where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of his 27 years in captivity and stared out at the blue sky through the barred window. Obama visited the island before, in 2006 when he was a senator, but this weekend he returned for the first time as president and brought along his family. “For me to be able to bring my daughters there and teach them the history of that place and this country, and help them to understand not only how those lessons apply to their own lives but also to their responsibilities in the future as citizens of the world, that’s a great privilege and a great honor,” Obama said Saturday. http://abcn.ws/14jA1p7

PROP 8 SUPPORTERS LOSE AGAIN. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy yesterday denied an emergency application filed by Proposition 8 sponsors asking the court to halt same-sex weddings until the justices issue a final disposition on their dismissal of a case asking them to overturn a lower-court decision striking down the California marriage law, ABC’s DEAN SCHABNER and ARIANE DE VOGUE write. That decision paved the way for same-sex marriages, which had been legal in the state before the passage of Prop 8, to resume. A federal court gave the go-ahead Friday evening, and gay couples immediately began tying the knot. Supporters of Proposition 8, which defined marriage as being between a man and a woman, had said they believed that the 9th Circuit Court acted prematurely in allowing marriages to resume before the Supreme Court had issued its final judgment, which usually comes within 25 days of a ruling. They filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court Saturday, asking the court to stop the 9th Circuit’s “premature move” allowing same sex marriages to go forward. http://abcn.ws/14jqZs5

WHAT WE’RE READING

“KASICH SIGNS BUDGET, KEEPS ABORTION RESTRICTIONS, LEAVES DOOR OPEN FOR MEDICAID EXPANSION,” by the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Brandon Blackwell. “Ohio’s next two-year budget is a done deal. Gov. John Kasich on Sunday evening signed controversial House Bill 59, a nearly $62 billion plan that attempts to spur economic growth while restricting reproductive rights. The Republican governor used his line-item veto to ditch a provision that would bar the state from expanding Medicaid, but held on to the legislature’s tax reform cornerstones and volley against abortion. … Kasich left in place provisions in HB 59 that will strip funds from Planned Parenthood, bar abortion providers from entering into emergency transfer agreements with public hospitals, and force women seeking abortions to undergo an ultrasound. The budget reprioritizes how federal dollars are distributed among the state’s family-planning centers, effectively placing Planned Parenthood at the end of the list, the group says. HB 59 also requires abortion providers to find private hospitals, which are often religious, willing to enter into transfer agreements to comply with the state’s requirements. A last-minute addition demands that abortion providers give women seeking abortions information on family planning and adoption services if a heartbeat can be detected through the use of a trans-abdominal ultrasound. It also compels doctors to inform those women “of the probable anatomical and physiological characteristics” of a fetus during various stages of its development.” http://bit.ly/17NebiE

WHO’S TWEETING?

@sswinkgma: Front page of the Arizona Republic this morning. http://fb.me/RBPkeylk 

@ZekeJMiller: On Rubio, It’s Bloomberg vs. Bloomberg http://ti.me/18qjPXo  via @TIMEPolitics

@JillDLawrence: .@JebBush to GOP: Get on board w #CIR to grow econ, reduce illegal immig & welfare rolls, strengthen border security http://on.wsj.com/19NWUGT 

@politicalwire: Latinos poised to catch up with whites in California population http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/07/01/latinos_poised_to_catch_up_with_whites_in_california.html …

@davelevinthal: Six governors — three GOP, three Dem — have signed bills increasing campaign contribution limits in ’13 http://ow.ly/mxwka 

Compiled by ABC News’ Carrie Halperin, Amanda VanAllen, Will Cantine and J.P. Lawrence

NSA
ABC’s Kari Rea: “Julian Assange: ‘No Stopping’ Release of Additional NSA Secrets” Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said this morning in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” that there is no stopping the release of additional NSA secrets obtained by Edward Snowden, a former contract employee of the organization. “There is no stopping the publishing process at this stage.  Great care has been taken to make sure that Mr. Snowden can’t be pressured by any state to stop the publication process.  LINK

USA Today’s Kelly Kennedy: “Assange: ‘No stopping’ publication of NSA documents” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said documents taken by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden will still be published. ”There is no stopping the publishing process at this stage,” Assange told ABC’s This Week Sunday. Assange also called Snowden a “hero” and said he doesn’t know where he is or where he plans to go. LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Te-Ping Chen and Ken Brown: “Snowden’s Options for Refuge Narrow” As Edward Snowden entered his second week of limbo in Moscow’s airport on Sunday, his decision to go to Russia is looking riskier than it first appeared, and may have left him in a worse situation than if he had stayed in Hong Kong. LINK 

The Hill’s Brendan Sasso: “NSA revelations throw wrench into lawmakers’ cybersecurity push” Revelations about the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance programs could make it more difficult for Congress to pass cybersecurity legislation. Civil liberties groups have long argued that the House’s cybersecurity bill, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), could allow vast batches of private online information to fall into the hands of the NSA. LINK

Bloomberg’s Susan Decker and John Walcott: “Snowden Disclosures Won’t Stop, WikiLeaks Founder Assange Says” Arresting former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden wouldn’t stop the release of information on classified programs to collect phone records and e-mail communications, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said. “There is no stopping the publishing process at this stage,” Assange said yesterday on ABC’s “This Week” program. LINK

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
The Washington Post’s Robert Barnes: “Ginsburg, Thomas  Spar Over Race; Court Likely To Get More Affirmative-Action Cases” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent in the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision last week reminded the world of this gem from the late law professor Thomas Reed Powell: “If you think that you can think about a thing inextricably attached to something else without thinking of the thing which it is attached to, then you have a legal mind.” That is what the great legal minds on the court did, according to Ginsburg, when they put the University of Texas’s freshmen admissions policy under a microscope for eight months and then weren’t sure what they’d seen. They sent it back for a lower court to take another look. LINK

MIDDLE EAST
The New York Times’ Jodi Rudoren and Michael R. Gordon: “Kerry Sees Progress in Effort To Revive Mideast Talks” After four days of the most intense Middle East peace push in years, Secretary of State John Kerry left Israel on Sunday without securing a public commitment that the two sides would return to the negotiating table, though he insisted that “real progress” had been made and said that a resumption of talks “could be within reach.” In what has become a familiar refrain, Mr. Kerry promised to return to the region soon. LINK

The Boston Globe’s Michael R. Gordon: ”John Kerry cites progress in Mideast peace talks” Secretary of State John Kerry wound up his most intensive push yet for a revival of Middle East peace talks Sunday without achieving a breakthrough, but he said that his four days of marathon meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders had yielded “real progress” and that a resumption of substantive negotiations could be “within reach.” LINK

PRESIDENT OBAMA
ABC News’ Jonathan Karl: “Obama Compares Nelson Mandela to George Washington.” Although President Obama will not get a chance to see Nelson Mandela on his trip to South Africa, he is using his historic visit to pay tribute to the man he calls a hero to the world and will meet today with the Mandela family. At a joint press conference with South African President Jacob Zuma this morning, President Obama spoke extensively about Mandela’s legacy. LINK

IMMIGRATION BILL
The Washington Times’ Stephen Dinan: “Sen. Marco Rubio’s political future is tied to success of immigration bill” Sen. Marco Rubio was the glue that held together the immigration deal in the Senate, helping set the stage for adding tens of thousands of Border Patrol agents to the final deal — but failing to win many of the changes the Florida Republican himself said he needed to see. The 68-32 vote last week in favor of the bill was a milestone for the Senate and for the immigration debate, but it was even more important for the first-term senator whose political future is inextricably linked with the landmark legislation he helped write and pass. LINK

ABC NEWS VIDEO
“Former Top Ranking General Allegedly Leaked Secrets to the Press“ LINK
“Julian Assange on ‘This Week’” LINK

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“Nelson Mandela showed us that one man’s courage can move the world. And he calls on us to make choices that reflect not our fears, but our hopes — in our own lives, and in the lives of our communities and our countries,” the president told a crowd of more than 1,000 at the University of Cape Town.

Echoing Robert Kennedy’s 1966 “Ripple of Hope” speech at the same location, Obama told students that every voice can make a difference.

“Think of how many ripples of hope it took to build a wave that would eventually come crashing down like a mighty stream,” he said. “If there’s any country in the world that shows the power of human beings to affect change, this is the one. You’ve shown us how a prisoner can become a president. You’ve shown us how bitter adversaries can reconcile. You’ve confronted crimes of hatred and intolerance with truth and love, and you wrote into your constitution the human rights that sustain freedom.”

The president argued that progress in Africa “rests on a fragile foundation” and encouraged the next generation to turn away from handouts from foreign governments in favor of legitimate partnerships that can advance the interests of the continent.

“I can promise you this: The world will be watching what decisions you make. The world will be watching what you do. Because one of the wonderful things that’s happening is, where people used to only see suffering and conflict in Africa, suddenly, now they’re seeing opportunity for resources, for investment, for partnership, for influence,” he said.

“My bet is on the young people who are the heartbeat of Africa’s story. I’m betting on all of you. As President of the United States, I believe that my own nation will benefit enormously if you reach your full potential,” he said. “I’m calling for America to up our game when it comes to Africa.”

As part of that effort, the president announced a new initiative to double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa with an initial $7 billion investment from the U.S.

“It’s the lifeline for families to meet their most basic needs. And it’s the connection that’s needed to plug Africa into the grid of the global economy,” he said. “You’ve got to have power.”

The keynote speech of the president’s week-long trip to Africa followed a family visit to Robben Island. While the president toured the prison where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in captivity in 2006, today, his wife and daughters saw it for the first time.

“There was something different about bringing my children,” he said. “Malia is now 15, Sasha is 12 and seeing them stand within the walls that once surrounded Nelson Mandela, I knew this was an experience that they would never forget. I knew that they now appreciated a little bit more the sacrifices that Madiba and others had made for freedom.”

“What I also know is that because they’ve had a chance to visit South Africa for a second time now, they also understand that Mandela’s spirit could never be imprisoned — for his legacy is here for all to see. It’s in this auditorium: young people, black, white, Indian, everything in between living and learning together in a South Africa that is free and at peace,” he said.