VA recruits millionth Veteran for Its genetic research database
On Saturday, after a 12-year effort, the Department of Veterans Affairs reached a long-term goal — it enrolled the 1 millionth veteran in a genetic database, the Million Veteran Program. According to the VA, the Million Veteran Program is the largest such database in the world. It includes not only genetic information but also is linked to the department’s electronic medical records and even contains records of diet and environmental exposure. The department says its data is available for now only to VA doctors and scientists, most of whom also have academic appointments. They have published hundreds of studies using what has already been collected.
More migrants on terrorism watchlist crossed U.S. border
An increasing number of migrants arrested at the southern border over the past year are on the United States’ terrorist watchlist, according to government data. From October last year to this September, officials at the southern border arrested 169 people whose names matched those on the watchlist, compared with 98 during the previous fiscal year and 15 in 2021, according to government data. But that is a minuscule fraction of the total number of migrants who were apprehended at the border over the past year, more than 2 million. Republicans have seized on those numbers to assail President Joe Biden for border policies that they say make Americans unsafe.
Mother of 6-year-old who shot teacher in Virginia is sentenced to 21 months
The mother of a 6-year-old who shot his first grade teacher in Virginia was sentenced Wednesday to one year and nine months in prison after pleading to using marijuana while owning a firearm and making false statements about drug use. The sentencing Deja Taylor, 26, was the latest development in a shooting that shocked the country in January when authorities detailed how a child had retrieved a gun from his home and brought it to Richneck Elementary School in Newport News. There, authorities said, the boy pulled out the gun, aimed it at his teacher, Abigail Zwerner, and fired. The bullet passed through her hand and struck her chest, causing serious injuries.
House Ethics panel
will not push to expel
George Santos
The House Ethics Committee will not call for Rep. George Santos’ expulsion as a result of its nearly nine-month investigation, the panel’s chair, Rep. Michael Guest, said Wednesday. Guest, R-Miss., would not characterize the committee’s findings in its report, which is expected to be released as early as Thursday. The panel has been investigating a range of alleged criminal and ethical violations, including accusations that the congressman fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits, failed to properly file financial disclosures, sexually harassed an employee and violated conflict of interest laws. Representatives for Santos, R-N.Y., did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Top German journalist received payments
from Putin ally
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Germany went through a period of uncomfortable soul-searching about the close ties that some of its political and business leaders had to Moscow. That self-examination spilled into the country’s journalistic establishment this week after published reports revealed that Hubert Seipel, an award-winning television broadcaster and author who has extensively covered Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, had received undisclosed payments from businesses linked to a billionaire ally of Putin. The reports, by a consortium of publishing outlets including Germany’s Der Spiegel and The Guardian of Britain, said that Seipel had been paid about 600,000 euros from accounts connected to Alexei Mordashov, a prominent Russian businessman.
French warrant issued for Assad alleging war crimes
French investigative judges have issued an international arrest warrant for President Bashar Assad of Syria that accuses him of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity over the deadly use of chemical weapons against his own people, a judicial official said Wednesday. The move was a major step to hold Assad and his circle accountable for some of the worst atrocities committed in the yearslong Syria conflict. In the absence of any international court or tribunal that has jurisdiction over Syrian crimes, several countries, including Germany, Sweden and France, have launched prosecutions of individuals — mostly of low-level members of the Syrian security forces.
By wire sources
