“WASHINGTON — Congress approved legislation Tuesday intended to curtail a striking rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, sending President Biden a bipartisan denunciation of the spate of brutal attacks that have proliferated during the coronavirus pandemic.
The bill, which the House passed on a 364-62 vote, will expedite the review of hate crimes at the Justice Department and make grants available to help local law enforcement agencies improve their investigation, identification, and reporting of incidents driven by bias, which often go underreported. It previously passed the Senate 94-1 in April after lawmakers reached a compromise. Biden has said he will sign it.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Criminal probe is opened into Trump's business. The New York attorney general’s office’s investigation of former President Donald Trump’s business now has a criminal component, a spokesman said, joining the Manhattan district attorney’s office probe and expanding a monthslong inquiry that until now had been focused on civil fraud.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinians across Israel and the occupied territories went on strike in a rare collective protest Tuesday as Israeli missiles toppled a building in Gaza and militants in the Hamas-ruled territory fired dozens of rockets that killed two people.
The demonstrations and ongoing violence came as moves toward a cease-fire appeared to be gaining more traction.
US officials said the Biden administration was privately encouraging Israel to wind down its bombardment of Gaza. Egyptian negotiators also were working to halt the fighting, and while they have not made progress with Israel, they were optimistic international pressure would force it to the table, according to an Egyptian diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing diplomatic efforts.” Read more at Boston Globe
“BRUSSELS — The European Union on Wednesday agreed to open its borders to vaccinated travelers after more than a year in which travel into the bloc has been severely restricted, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Christian Wigand did not say immediately when the change would go into effect. A formal final approval is still necessary, but its passage is not in doubt. Travelers would need to have vaccines approved for use within the European Union — meaning that all the vaccines currently available in the United States would be greenlighted, but vaccines currently manufactured in Russia and China would not be.” Read more at Washington Post
“Average Covid-19 case numbers in the US are the lowest they’ve been in nearly a year, and a White House adviser says case tallies are down in all 50 states. That’s a sure sign vaccination efforts are working, even as demand for vaccines slows across the country. About 48% of the US population has gotten at least one dose. After a devastating lack of vaccine supply and a punishing third wave of infections, Canada is set to catch up to and even surpass the US in first-dose vaccination rates. Still, only 4% of the country’s eligible population is fully vaccinated. In China, a fresh Covid-19 scare quickly blunted vaccine hesitancy and led to 100 million inoculations in just nine days.” Read more at CNN
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy says the independent probe would be counterproductive and shortsighted.
PHOTO:ANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES
“WASHINGTON—House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) said he opposed plans for a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, dismissing the independent probe as counterproductive and shortsighted.
But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said Republicans in his chamber are undecided and ‘willing to listen’ to arguments about whether a commission is needed.
Mr. McCarthy’s public opposition to the commission proposal—and Mr. McConnell’s suggestion that he was open to it—underscored the tensions on Capitol Hill over Jan. 6, and the divisions within the Republican Party over how to reckon with the events of that day, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol to try to stop ratification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Some Republicans, including Mr. Trump, have played down the severity of the assault, which resulted in the deaths of five people and the injury of 140 law-enforcement officials. Mr. Trump was impeached in the House over his actions related to the riot. He was acquitted in the Senate.
The Biden White House issued a statement in support of the commission following Mr. McCarthy’s statement Tuesday. ‘The nation deserves such a full and fair accounting to prevent future violence and strengthen the security and resilience of our democratic institutions,’ the statement said.
Mr. McCarthy’s opposition to the commission came a few days after the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Bennie G. Thompson (D., Miss.), struck an agreement with the panel’s top-ranking Republican, John Katko of New York, to introduce legislation to form the commission. A vote is expected in the House on Wednesday.
The legislation proposed by Messrs. Thompson and Katko would require a simple majority in the House and would need 60 votes to advance in the 50-50 Senate.
Mr. McCarthy said the commission would be too narrowly focused on what happened on Jan. 6. He said the commission should also examine other acts of political violence, such as the attack on a Republican congressional baseball practice in 2017, the death of a Capitol police officer who was rammed by a car April 2, and ‘political violence that has struck American cities.’
Mr. McCarthy also said that he was concerned that the commission could interfere with the prosecutions of people charged with committing crimes at the Capitol on Jan. 6.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Attorneys for the family of Andrew Brown Jr. are asking the Justice Department to intervene after a North Carolina district attorney said deputies would not be charged in connection with his killing. The Pasquotank County prosecutor said the deputies who fatally shot Brown last month were justified in using deadly force, and he played bodycam video of the incident publicly for the first time. The deputies could still face disciplinary action, the sheriff said. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of House and Senate negotiators met to try to craft a compromise bill overhauling the nation's policing laws. President Biden has said he wants a bill by May 25, the anniversary of George Floyd’s death. But the group says it's not adhering to any deadline.” Read more at CNN
“The Republican president of the Arizona Senate said Tuesday that an audit of the 2020 vote in Maricopa County being conducted by private contractors will go forward, despite furious pushback from local GOP officials, who this week called the process a ‘sham’ that is harming democracy.
At a meeting to discuss the recount of nearly 2.1 million ballots, Senate President Karen Fann said the process is necessary to answer constituent questions and bemoaned the county’s unwillingness to work with the contractors hired by the state Senate.
‘Let’s get this thing done and get our questions answered and get it out to the public and let everybody know that our next election will be 100 percent safe and secure,’ Fann said.
The audit is being led by a Florida company called Cyber Ninjas, whose chief executive has previously promoted claims that the election was fraudulent. The process has been widely criticized as haphazard and insecure by election experts.” Read more at Washington Post
“Two potentially blockbuster Supreme Court decisions on abortion access and guns are fueling calls from the left to add seats to the nation’s most powerful court — increasing the pressure on President Biden and Democratic lawmakers who so far have resisted such far-reaching changes.
The White House’s answer to the long-simmering liberal anxieties over the judiciary has been largely academic, putting together a commission of three dozen legal experts tasked with examining potential structural overhaul of the courts. That panel meets for the first time in public on Wednesday afternoon.
But activists say the Supreme Court’s announcement Monday that it will review Mississippi’s ban on nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy — a case that supporters and opponents alike say could erode the landmark Roe v. Wade — underscores their concern that Biden’s current tack on the judiciary is inadequate to confront a conservative court majority that could overturn the decades-old precedent legalizing access to the procedure…
The debate within the Democratic Party over the courts encapsulates the tensions between an impatient activist base and Biden, a classic institutionalist who has been comparably slow to embrace structural changes that would upend how the legislative and judicial branches operate.” Read more at Washington Post
“Rep. Andrew S. Clyde (R-Ga.) last week downplayed the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, comparing the mob’s breaching of the building to a ‘normal tourist visit.’
But photos from that day show the congressman, mouth agape, rushing toward the doors to the House gallery and helping barricade them to prevent rioters from entering. The images have resurfaced in recent days on social media amid a wave of disbelief and outrage over Clyde’s comments, including from several Republicans.” Read more at Washington Post
“DENVER — The FBI has revealed that it is investigating the 2017 death of an Asian-American teenager in Colorado as a possible hate crime, a grisly case in which local authorities said she was purposefully set on fire and burned alive in her family’s mountain community home.
The FBI said in a statement Monday to Denver news station KCNC-TV that it was looking into the death of 17-year-old Maggie Long as a ‘hate crime matter.’
Long’s death was ruled a homicide, and authorities later released composite sketches of at least three men they believed were involved in her death. No arrests have been made.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Ten months after revealing plans to cut nearly one-third of its varsity athletic programs, Stanford announced on Tuesday that those 11 sports would not be discontinued after all, ending a battle between the university and the supporters of those sports.
University leaders, in announcing the reversal, cited improvements in the school’s investments and also said supporters of the programs had helped reveal a new path toward funding the sports — 10 of which are featured at the Olympics.
Celebrations rippled through campus when teams heard their programs would be saved just weeks before they were set to lose their varsity status. Players on the men’s volleyball team shouted and hugged and shoved each other in a giant celebratory mosh pit in their dormitory. Some rowers on the men’s crew team high-fived and whooped outside of their boathouse post-practice, while others fell to the ground in tears of relief.
Women on the fencing team came together in a group chat to share their joy, thrilled that their beloved program would survive, yet still disappointed that the university had initially not seen enough value in their sport to keep it.” Read more at New York Times
“WASHINGTON—The FBI is investigating whether a U.S. defense contractor unlawfully directed money to support Sen. Susan Collins, according to a search warrant recently unsealed in federal court.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has searched electronic devices belonging to defense executive Martin Kao seeking evidence that he orchestrated an effort to funnel allegedly illegal contributions to help Ms. Collins, a Maine Republican, in her 2020 reelection bid. Federal law prohibits defense contractors from making contributions to federal elected officials.
Federal agents requested the warrant, unsealed Friday, citing evidence that Mr. Kao, through a personal account and his company’s, reimbursed friends and family members for about $45,000 in donations they made directly to Ms. Collins’s campaign. Such a pattern of behavior would violate a federal law banning donations made in the name of another person. Investigators also allege that Mr. Kao unlawfully directed $150,000 in corporate funds to a super PAC supporting Ms. Collins’s 2020 re-election campaign.
At the time, Mr. Kao was serving as the chief executive of Navatek, a Hawaii-based defense contractor that has since been renamed Martin Defense Group. A spokeswoman for the company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
There is no evidence that Ms. Collins is under investigation. ‘The Collins for Senator Campaign had absolutely no knowledge of anything alleged in the warrant,’ said Annie Clark, a spokeswoman for the lawmaker.
The senator’s campaign said it required all donors to certify that they were lawfully allowed to donate and were complying with all the federal requirements governing donations, including those from corporations and contractors.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“7.4% — The economic contraction in Latin America in 2020, its worst downturn since 1821. While the U.S., the U.K. and China bounce back from the Covid-19 pandemic, many countries in the developing world are having a different experience. The World Bank estimates that 150 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty because of the pandemic.
27 million — The approximate number of teenagers in the U.S. who will be offered an account with the brokerage Fidelity. The company said it would issue debit cards and offer investing and savings accounts to 13- to-17-year-olds whose parents or guardians also invested with the firm. The move is the latest attempt by Fidelity to position itself as a lifelong financial adviser to millions of Americans.
$607,336 — The adjusted gross income that President Biden and Jill Biden made in 2020 according to tax records released by the couple. The Bidens’ 2020 income came largely from pensions, Social Security benefits and Dr. Biden's speaking and writing engagements. The couple paid 25.9% of their adjusted gross income in federal income and self-employment taxes.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Charles Grodin, the versatile actor familiar from ‘Same Time, Next Year’ on Broadway, such popular movies as ‘The Heartbreak Kid,’ ‘Midnight Run,’ and ‘Beethoven,’ and numerous television appearances, died on Tuesday at his home in Wilton, Conn. He was 86.
His son, Nicholas, said the cause was bone marrow cancer.
With a great sense of deadpan comedy and the kind of Everyman good looks that lend themselves to playing businessmen or curmudgeonly fathers, Mr. Grodin found plenty of work as a supporting player and the occasional lead. He also had his own talk show for a time in the 1990s and was a frequent guest on the talk shows of others, making 36 appearances on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson’ and more than 40 on David Letterman’s NBC and CBS shows combined.” Read more at Boston Globe
“After emphasizing human rights in foreign policy, Blinken is meeting Lavrov amid the harshest Kremlin crackdown on opposition activists in years. That’s a potential point of friction alongside persistent disputes over alleged meddling in U.S. elections, and hacking attacks.
Lavrov, in the post since 2004, isn’t shy about blaming the U.S. for arguably the worst ties since the Cold War across issues from Afghanistan and the Iran nuclear deal to the conflict in Ukraine and strategic arms control.
Still, both sides want a summit, if for different reasons and even though major breakthroughs from a meeting would be unlikely.
The Biden administration wants to concentrate on the challenge from China. But Putin’s gambit in sending tens of thousands of troops to the border with Ukraine got the U.S. president’s attention and prompted the invitation to meet.
For Putin, the handshake with a man who has called him a ‘killer’ will demonstrate he remains a leader to be reckoned with. For Biden, the chance to ease tensions will mean he can focus on this century’s real superpower contest. “ Read more at Bloomberg
“Cotton spat | China accused Washington of “bullying” after news the U.S. customs agency blocked a shipment of Uniqlo shirts in January for violating an order against imports suspected to be produced by forced labor from a China state-owned company. Global apparel makers are caught in tensions over cotton sourced from Xinjiang, with Chinese consumers boycotting foreign brands critical of Beijing’s actions and the U.S. cracking down on items from the region.
Beijing also hit back after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined calls for a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics.” Read more at Bloomberg
“A debate in South Korea about mandatory military service for women is inflaming divisions in a country facing chronic income disparities, a low birth rate and systemic gender discrimination. The issue affects almost every family in South Korea, which is technically still at war with North Korea and shares one of the world’s most militarized borders, Jeong-Ho Lee and Jihye Lee report.” Read more at Bloomberg
Female cadets participate in military training in Seoul, South Korea.
“Mediterranean migration. At least 57 migrants drowned off the coast of Tunisia on Tuesday after the boat they were traveling in capsized. Although the dead have not been identified, the Red Crescent identified the 33 survivors as Bangladeshi nationals, who had boarded the boat in Libya. The United Nations estimates at least 685 people have either died or gone missing in the Mediterranean this year.
Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has travelled to two Spanish exclaves in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, to deal with record numbers of migrants crossing into Spanish territory from neighboring Morocco; 8,000 migrants have entered Ceuta in recent days, Spanish officials say, with children a large proportion of those making the journey by boat or on foot at low tide. Sánchez has also deployed Spanish troops to assist border forces in the territory.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“India delays vaccine exports. In a delay that’s longer than anticipated, India likely won’t resume exporting major batches of coronavirus vaccines until October at the earliest to prioritize domestic vaccinations, in a move that’s set to compound the shortages already faced by COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX), an initiative to get vaccines to developing countries. India curtailed vaccine exports more than a month ago after exporting more than 60 million doses, and the latest delay comes as the country experiences the world’s biggest surge in coronavirus cases, which crossed the 25 million mark on Tuesday.
Even before the delay was reported, the head of UNICEF, Henrietta Fore, called on G-7 countries on Monday to donate supplies to COVAX to cover India’s cutbacks. ‘Sharing immediately available excess doses is a minimum, essential and emergency stop-gap measure, and it is needed right now,’ she said.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“IEA fossil fuel warning. The International Energy Agency has warned that all new fossil fuel extraction projects must be halted if the world is to reach the target of keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. Describing the goal as ‘narrow but still achievable’ the group said that to reach the goal, all sales of combustion engine cars must cease within the next 14 years and that energy efficiency must increase by 4 percent annually over the next ten years.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Samoa’s new leader. Samoa has a new leader for the first time in 20 years as Fiame Naomi Mata’afa unseated Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, who had been the second-longest serving prime minister in the world. Mata’afa’s victory was validated by the country’s supreme court on Monday, making her the first female prime minister in the country’s history. Mata’afa has a slim one-seat advantage in the 51-seat parliament after an independent lawmaker broke a 25-25 seat deadlock between the two main parties.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“An Air France-KLM flight touched down in Montreal on Wednesday after flying from Paris fueled in part by used cooking oil. The company said the flight was its first experiment in using the fuel on a long-haul flight as airlines are being pushed to find sustainable alternatives to high-emission jet fuel.
The flight was powered using a 16 percent mix of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced in France by energy giant Total. The trip comes as new rules enter into force in 2022 which will force all flights departing France to be powered by at least 1 percent SAF, as the European Union works toward a goal of 5 percent by 2030. The move is not seen as a silver bullet in solving the problems presented by climate change. Emissions won’t suddenly drop ‘just by adding a very small quantity of agrofuel or biofuel,’ Agathe Bounfour of the Climate Action Network in France said. ‘We need a drop in air traffic in order to comply with climate goals.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
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