The News—Republican Fervor in the Primaries, and Some Tennis History Making

Good morning, gentlemen.  Here’s what’s on your good feed this Tuesday morning…

Republicans Prove Enthusiasm in Primaries

The primaries are over, folks, and this is what we know: The GOP may have suffered through internal battles between establishment incumbents and extreme Tea Party-esque challengers, but more Republicans came to the polls, which could mean bad news for Democrats in November.

“On balance, the tea party has been a net positive for Republicans,” said Whit Ayres, a pollster for the GOP. “It has clearly helped to generate those large Republican primary turnouts and the enormous enthusiasm among Republicans.”

Rafael Nadal Wins U.S. Open, Makes Tennis History

The tousle-haired 24-year old Spaniard won the U.S. Open for the first time last night, cementing his place in tennis history as the second-youngest man to collect nine Grand Slam tournament titles. Nadal has now won five French Opens, two Wimbledons, and an Australian and U.S. Open (not to mention an Olympic gold medal.)

Nadal beat Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in four sets last night (6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2). “Right now he’s the best player in the world, and he absolutely deserves this title,” Djokovic said after the match.

When asked to describe his first Open victory, Nadal said it was “more than what I dreamt.”

American Woman Released from Iranian Prison

Sarah Shourd, an American woman who has been held in an Iranian prison for more than a year, was finally released today. She and two colleagues were accused of spying and illegally crossing the border between Iran and Iraq during a hiking trip in the mountains of Kurdistan.

“She is free… she is coming out of prison right now,” said Shourd’s Iranian lawyer.

Cuba Cutting More Than 500,000 Jobs

As if to bolster their former President’s doomsday remarks from last week, the Cuban government has announced plans to lay off more than half a million people from the public sector in the hopes that those jobs will move into private businesses. Current President Raul Castro has been warning of this massive economic overhaul for some time, emphasizing that the government has been supporting a faulty system that has sapped work ethic and babied the nation’s workers. (More than 85% of Cuba’s 5.5 million workers are state-employed.)

“We have to erase forever the notion that Cuba is the only country in the world where one can live without working,” he said last month to the National Assembly.