U.S. Is Said to Consider Reinstating Detention of Migrant Families
The Biden administration is considering reviving the practice of detaining migrant families who cross the border illegally — the same policy the president shut down over the past two years because he wanted a more humane immigration system, officials familiar with the discussions said Monday. Although no final decision has been made, the move would be a stark reversal for President Joe Biden, who came into office promising to adopt a more compassionate approach to the border. But the administration has turned to more restrictive measures as it struggles to quell a rise in migrants fleeing authoritarian governments and economic ruin in their countries.
U.S. Considers Vaccinating Chickens as Bird Flu Kills Millions of Them
The Biden administration, watchful of an outbreak of avian influenza that has led to the deaths of tens of millions of chickens and is driving up egg costs — not to mention raising the specter of a human pandemic — is contemplating mass vaccination of poultry, according to White House officials. The outbreak, which began early last year, is the biggest in the nation’s history, affecting more than 58 million farmed birds in 47 states, as well as birds in the wild. The U.S. Agriculture Department says it has begun testing potential poultry vaccines and initiated discussions with industry leaders about a large-scale bird flu vaccination program.
Republican Votes Helped Washington Pile Up Debt
President Joe Biden will submit his latest budget request to Congress on Thursday, offering $2 trillion in plans to reduce deficits and future growth of the national debt. Republicans, who are demanding deep spending cuts in exchange for raising the nation’s borrowing cap, will almost certainly greet that proposal with a familiar refrain: Biden and his party are to blame for ballooning the debt. But an analysis of House and Senate voting records, and of fiscal estimates of legislation prepared by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, shows that Republicans bear at least equal blame as Democrats for the biggest drivers of federal debt growth that passed Congress over the past two presidential administrations.
Search is On for Two Fugitives Charged in Jan. 6 Capitol Attack
Authorities are searching for a Florida woman who slipped away from federal monitoring days before she was set to go on trial in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Olivia Michele Pollock was to be tried Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington on charges of assaulting police officers and interfering with law enforcement. But on Friday, a federal judge issued an arrest warrant for Pollock after she broke the terms of her release agreement with the government and disappeared. The judge also issued an arrest warrant for one of Pollock’s co-defendants, Joseph Daniel Hutchinson, after he, too, violated the terms of his release.
Bernie Sanders Presses Ahead With Subpoena of Starbucks CEO
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday confirmed that his committee will hold a vote this week to open an investigation into federal labor law violations by corporations and subpoena Howard Schultz, the billionaire CEO of Starbucks, as the first witness. Sanders, I-Vt., chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, last week announced his intent to try to compel Schultz to appear on Capitol Hill, stating that Starbucks had declined an invitation in February for him to testify about his violation of federal labor law and defied congressional oversight inquiries. Schultz and the company have faced increasing scrutiny amid continuing unionization efforts.
Ukraine Claims a Drone Strike on a Military Target Inside Russia
Ukrainian special forces said on Monday that they had destroyed an unmanned observation tower in Russia’s Bryansk region using a drone strike, a rare public acknowledgment of a cross-border attack that underscored Ukraine’s increasing willingness to directly hit Russian territory. The Kraken unit, which reports to Ukrainian military intelligence, released a video that it said showed the assault. The strike’s timing was unclear, but the video, released on the unit’s Telegram channel Monday, came days after a brief armed incursion into a Russian border village in Bryansk by a group claiming to fight for Ukraine. The Kremlin described it as a “terrorist” attack.
Ukraine Signals It Will Keep Battling for Bakhmut to Drain Russia
Ukraine’s top generals want to bolster the defenses of the embattled city of Bakhmut, the government said Monday, signaling that rather than retreat from the city, they will pursue a strategy of bleeding the Russian army in a battle of attrition before a planned Ukrainian counterattack. Ukraine has calculated that the siege is weakening and tying down Russia’s military, even as Kyiv awaits a new arsenal of weaponry from the West, including tanks and precision rockets to enable an expected drive to retake occupied territory elsewhere. This achievement, Ukrainian officials say, justifies their high casualty toll, although soldiers and some military analysts have questioned defending a mostly abandoned, ruined city.
Historical Disputes Kept Them at Odds. Can Seoul and Tokyo Make Amends?
In one of the most significant moves to improve ties between South Korea and Japan, the government of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced Monday that the country would no longer demand that Japanese companies compensate their Korean victims of forced labor during World War II. Instead, Seoul will create a government-run fund that it will use to pay the victims directly. The move was seen as a clear indication that improving relations had become a greater priority between South Korea and Japan as the U.S. urged its two most steadfast allies in Asia to work closer together to help it face off with China and North Korea.
Iran’s Rulers, Shaken by Protests, Face Currency Crisis
Iran’s rial has lost about 30% of its value against the dollar since the beginning of the year — the latest setback for an economy whose outlook has dimmed since 2018, when President Donald Trump walked away from an agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for lifting sanctions. Instead, he imposed harsher sanctions. The currency’s recent decline has added to a sense of despair and to Iranians’ grievances against the government. Prospects for economic relief and political change appear slim. For an increasingly vocal number of Iranians, the long lines outside currency exchanges were the latest evidence that the authoritarian leadership was steering the country off the rails.
A Rival for Erdogan Emerges as Opposition Parties Pick a Candidate
A coalition of parties seeking to unseat Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan anointed a veteran opposition politician Monday as its presidential candidate just two months before elections that could drastically alter the country’s political and economic trajectory. The candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of Turkey’s largest opposition party, represents diverse political forces that have vowed to reverse what they call Erdogan’s erosion of democracy as he has consolidated power during two decades as the country’s paramount politician. At stake in the simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections is the economic future of Turkey, one of the world’s 20 largest economies. It is also a U.S. ally in NATO.
Belarus Sentences Exiled Opposition Leader to 15 Years in Prison
A court in Belarus has sentenced the country’s main exiled opposition leader in absentia to 15 years in prison, the state news agency, Belta, said Monday, as the government continues to clamp down on dissent after a 2000 election whose results were widely derided as fraudulent. The opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, fled the country after running for president in 2020 against Belarus’ authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko. She has been based in neighboring Lithuania and continues to coordinate opposition to Belarus’ government from abroad. The court in Minsk handed down the sentence for crimes including conspiracy to seize state power as well as creating and leading an extremist group, Belta reported.
By wire sources