Wednesday, September 15th, 2021 

Newsom survives California recall effort California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) defeated a Republican-led effort to remove him from office on Tuesday in the second gubernatorial recall election in the state’s history. Early returns showed that 66 percent of voters opposed the recall while 34 percent supported it. “No is not the only thing we said tonight,” said Newsom, who had faced criticism from conservatives over his early coronavirus lockdown and other policies. “We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. We said yes to ending this pandemic.” Republican talk show host Larry Elder, who led the field of candidates seeking to replace Newsom, conceded defeat after claiming voter fraud in the days ahead of the vote. “We may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war,” Elder said. SACRAMENTO BEE 

North, South Korea conduct missile tests within hours of each other North and South Korea test-launched ballistic missiles on Wednesday, escalating tensions as a push to renew nuclear talks with Pyongyang remained stalled. South Korea said it fired a domestically-built missile from a submarine in its first underwater-launched ballistic missile test, making it the seventh nation with that capability. Hours earlier, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions banning such tests. On Monday, North Korea fired a newly developed cruise missile, its first weapons test in six months. Experts said Pyongyang appeared to be pressuring the United States to resume nuclear negotiations. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called North Korea’s missile launch “outrageous,” saying it threatened peace. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Haitian prosecutor says prime minister linked to president’s assassination  One of Haiti’s top prosecutors, Bed-Ford Claude, asked a judge on Tuesday to charge Prime Minister Ariel Henry in connection with the July assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Claude, the chief prosecutor in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, said in the two-page indictment request that Henry had conducted two phone calls with a central suspect, former Justice ministry official Joseph Badio, on the night of the killing. “There are enough compromised elements against the prime minister to indict him, pure and simple,” Claude wrote. Moïse appointed Henry to the post shortly before his death, but he had not taken office yet. He won a power struggle and took over less than two weeks after the assassination.  THE WASHINGTON POST 

New book says top general, alarmed by Trump rhetoric, secretly called China  Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, twice called his counterparts in China after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack out of concern that then-President Donald Trump might start a nuclear war, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward and national political reporter Robert Costa. The Post reported Tuesday that Milley, then Trump’s top military adviser, made the calls to avert a potential war by assuring Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army that U.S. forces would not attack China despite Trump’s belligerent rhetoric and push to overturn his election loss to President Biden. “General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay,” Milley told him, according to the book. Some conservatives said Milley should resign or be fired if the report is true. THE WASHINGTON POST 

Prices rise in August, but less than expected  Inflation eased but remained elevated in August, the Labor Department reported on Tuesday. The consumer-price index rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent in August from July, down from a 0.5 percent in July compared to June. The increase in June was even higher, at 0.9 percent. Economists had expected a 0.4 percent August rise. The price increases have come as the latest surge in coronavirus cases slowed the economic recovery and extended labor and supply shortages. Prices were up by 5.3 percent in August from a year earlier, down from 5.4 percent adjusted annual increases in June and July. Real wages adjusted for inflation fell by 0.5 percent in August, as rising prices more than offset pay increases, according to data from the Labor Department and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. CNBC 

Broadway blockbusters return after coronavirus closures Some of Broadway’s biggest shows, including The Lion King, Wicked, and Hamilton, resumed performances on Tuesday after an 18-month shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some other shows restarted earlier, but the return of the musical-theater powerhouses represented a big step for the industry, even as a coronavirus surge driven by the highly contagious Delta variant slows the economic recovery. “Broadway, and all of the arts and culture of the city, express the life, the energy, the diversity, the spirit of New York City,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference Tuesday. “It’s in our heart and soul. It’s also so much of what people do to make a living in this town … So, this is a big night for New York City’s comeback.” THE NEW YORK TIMES 

California ski resort drops controversial name The Squaw Valley ski resort near Lake Tahoe announced Tuesday that it is changing its controversial name following complaints from Native American tribes. The leaders of the California resort said they made the decision to change the name last summer because the word “squaw,” in modern usage, is widely considered “offensive, derogatory, racist, and misogynistic.” The resort, formerly called Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, will now be known as Palisades Tahoe. The Washoe Tribe, whose ancestral lands include the resort’s valley, praised the decision. Darrel Cruz of the Washoe Tribe Historic Preservation Office said the word was “a constant reminder of the unjust treatment of the Native people, of the Washoe people.” NPR 

Tuesday,  September 14th, 2021 

An al-Shabaab suicide bomber blows himself up at a tea shop near a military base in Mogadishu, killing six soldiers and three civilians and injuring 11 others. (Al Jazeera) 

Prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude asks a judge to forbid prime minister Ariel Henry from leaving Haiti “by air, sea or road” due to “serious presumption relative to the assassination of the former president”. (Reuters) 

Seven people are killed when a King Air 360 crashed shortly after takeoff in Piracicaba, Brazil. Among the victims is the Brazilian energy company Cosan shareholder Celso Silveira Mello Filho and his family. (Nasdaq) 

Caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte announces that the 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) social distancing requirement will be lifted on September 25 and instead, a “Corona pass” will be required in order to enter bars, restaurants, and large-scale events and festivals as the number of COVID-19 cases declines. (MedicalXpress) 

President Vladimir Putin enters self-isolation after several members of his inner circle tested positive for COVID-19. (AP) 

The Parliament of Zimbabwe bans anyone who is unvaccinated against COVID-19 from attending church service in order to increase the vaccination rate. (AFP via Barron’s) 

More than 1,400 atlantic white-sided dolphins are killed during hunting in the Faroe Islands, the biggest ever slaughter in the history of the annual hunt known as the Grindadráp. (The Guardian) 

At the end of a European Union summit, representatives threaten to fine Poland on a daily basis and withhold part of the EU’s budget from Hungary over their laws against the gay and LGBT communities. (Bloomberg) 

Chinese ambassador Zheng Zeguang is banned from entering the Parliament of the United Kingdom while sanctions remain in place on a number of British MPs and officials. Zheng was due to attend a Commons reception on Wednesday. China says that this was a “despicable and cowardly” decision. (BBC) 

France says that a planned deal between Mali’s military junta led by Assimi Goïta and the Wagner Group to bring Russian private military contractors into Mali was “incompatible” with the current French military presence. (Reuters) 

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich files a lawsuit against President Joe Biden and his administration over the vaccine mandate, making Arizona the first U.S. state to do so. (KTAR) 

A Mexican court sentences Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, a former leader of the Juárez drug cartel, to 28 years in prison on the charges of organized crime and drug trafficking. (AFP via RFI) 

Governor Gavin Newsom survives the recall election, making him the second governor to survive a recall after former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in 2012. (Business Insider) 

Tuesday,  September 14th, 2021 

The United States will send $64 million in aid to Afghanistan. (The Hill) 

Experts argue general population doesn’t need COVID booster shots A group of international experts said in a new paper published Monday in the Lancet that it wasn’t necessary to offer the general population coronavirus vaccine booster shots. The Biden administration plans next Monday to start offering third doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and later Moderna’s. But the World Health Organization has called for delaying broad booster programs until countries that lack sufficient vaccine supplies have obtained enough to give their populations the initial two doses. The paper’s authors, who included two outgoing Food and Drug Administration vaccine regulators, said boosters aren’t necessary for most people because there is no evidence the vaccines’ protection against hospitalization or death from COVID-19 has weakened significantly over time. Most experts agree that people with compromised immune systems should get the extra shot. STAT NEWS 

Most Americans support Biden vaccine mandate  Fifty-eight percent of participants said in a new Morning Consult/Politico survey that they support the White House’s latest vaccination mandate for companies with more than 100 employees. The supporters said President Biden’s recently unveiled vaccine policy, which is part of a multi-pronged plan to fight the pandemic, will reduce nationwide COVID-19 infection rates, and increase vaccination. The respondents were sharply split along partisan lines, with 80 percent of Democrats supporting the mandate compared to just 33 percent of Republicans. Sixty-six percent of Republicans said they consider federal vaccine mandates to be a violation of their rights. Sixty-seven percent of Democrats said they believed such policies protected their rights. MORNING CONSULT 

Biden urges California voters to back Newsom in recall election President Biden on Monday made a last-minute appeal to California voters to back Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in the state’s Tuesday recall election. Biden praised Newsom and called leading Republican candidate Larry Elder “the clone of Donald Trump.” Biden said the election could determine the nation’s direction on issues that were at the center of his 2020 election victory over Trump, such as the pandemic, reproductive rights, and the fight against climate change. “The eyes of the world are on California,” Biden said. Voters will be asked whether Newsom should be recalled and, if so, who should replace him. The latest polls show Newsom is favored to keep his job. A website backed by Elder is already claiming fraud resulted in a Newsom win. THE NEW YORK TIMES 

Democrats unveil tax hikes proposed in spending bill House Democrats on Monday unveiled details on the tax increases they are proposing to impose on corporations, investors, and high-earning business owners to help pay for their $3.5 trillion spending plan. The proposal would increase the corporate tax rate to 26.5 percent from 21 percent. It also would add a 3-percentage-point surtax for people making more than $5 million. It additionally would hike capital-gains taxes, while leaving out changes to taxation at death that the Biden administration wants. The proposals would raise more than $2 trillion to help cover the spending legislation’s expansion of Medicare and other social safety net programs, and measures to fight climate change. Democrats plan a committee vote on the plan this week. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 

Blinken defends Biden’s handling of Afghanistan withdrawal Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday defended President Biden’s handling of the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops from Afghanistan, saying Biden “inherited” a looming disaster from former President Donald Trump. “We inherited a deadline. We did not inherit a plan,” Blinken testified to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Blinken said if Biden hadn’t kept Trump’s promise to leave, Taliban forces would have resumed attacks on American and allied forces. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the top Republican on the committee, said America’s “standing on the world stage has been greatly diminished” by the withdrawal and the “betraying” of Afghan allies. Democrats on committees investigating the withdrawal and the Taliban’s return to power are seeking to broaden the focus to include mistakes made under Republican and Democratic presidents alike. POLITICO 

Capitol Police arrest man found with knives near DNC headquarters U.S. Capitol Police on Monday arrested a California man found near Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., with a bayonet and a machete inside his Dodge Dakota pickup truck. The vehicle had “a swastika and other white supremacist symbols painted on it,” the department said. It had a picture of an American flag where its license plate should have been. The suspect, 44-year-old Donald Craighead, was charged with possession of prohibited weapons. Craighead reportedly said he was “on patrol,” and “began talking about white supremacist ideology and other rhetoric pertaining to white supremacy,” the Capitol Police said. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger praised officers for spotting Craighead and making the arrest. “This is good police work plain and simple,” Manger said in a statement. FOX NEWS 

Trump pushes back against Bush over domestic terror threat Former President Donald Trump on Monday sharply criticized former President George W. Bush for saying in his 9/11 commemoration speech over the weekend that international and domestic terrorists and violent extremists are “children of the same foul spirit.” Both, he suggested, pose significant threats to the United States, despite their contrasting worldviews. Bush didn’t specify which domestic terror groups he meant, but many listeners assumed that some of those he was referring to were in the mob of Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6. Trump said Bush was saying that domestic terrorists “on the right” are “a bigger problem” than “those from foreign countries that hate America,” and added that Bush shouldn’t be “lecturing” anybody because 9/11 happened “during his watch.” CNN 

Report says climate change could force millions to move A World Bank report released Monday found that climate change could force more than 200 million people to leave their homes over the next three decades. The Groundswell report, in its second part, looked at the impact of gradual climate change on water scarcity, falling crop yields, and rising sea levels, and found that rising temperatures could trigger a wave of “climate migrants,” depending on different levels of development and climate action. Up to 216 million people could be pushed to move within their own countries in the six regions analyzed in the report — Latin America; North Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Eastern Europe and Central Asia; South Asia; and East Asia and the Pacific. Even the most climate-friendly scenario could result in 44 million climate migrants. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Monday,  September 13th, 2021 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken defends the U.S. withdrawal during a testimony congressional hearing. (Reuters) 

A report by Amnesty International citing other organizations says that an increasing number of children are being killed and abducted as the conflict in Niger, mainly in the Tillabéri Region, worsens near the border with Mali and Burkina Faso. The report says that “a generation is growing surrounded by death and destruction” and denounces “gross abuses” by ISIL and Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin. The report urges the government and international partners to “take action”. (Al Jazeera) 

The BBC documents and reports that the Taliban deliberately targeted civilians in Panjshir Province despite promises to avoid retaliatory attacks on local civilians. One of the documented cases was that of a shopkeeper as the news agency says that up to 20 civilians were killed by Taliban fighters during their advance on the last anti-Taliban stronghold. (BBC) 

Pakistan International Airlines operates the first international commercial flight to Kabul International Airport since the city’s takeover by the Taliban on August 15. (AFP via Manila Bulletin) 

The United Nations begins a fundraising event to collect $600 million in emergency funds for various Afghani agencies by the end of the year. (UPI) 

A Dutch court rules that Uber drivers are entitled to the same employee benefits afforded to taxi drivers. The court also orders the company to pay a €50,000 fine for damages.  (CNBC) 

American international consumer credit reporting agency TransUnion agrees to purchase American technology company Neustar for $3.1 billion. (Fox Business) 

Greece begins to implement mandatory weekly COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated people. Public and private employees are required to pay for tests for their unvaccinated employees while unvaccinated high school students will be given test kits distributed at the government’s expense. (Euronews) 

The United Kingdom cancels a deal to purchase vaccines developed by Valneva SE following accusations of breaching the agreement. (BBC) 

The four Chief Medical Officers recommend universal COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 12 to 15 years using the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in order to reduce the possible disruption to schools. (The Guardian) 

South Africa moves to adjusted level 2 restrictions that will allow licensed establishments to serve alcohol until 10 p.m. Additionally, the curfew will begin one hour later at 11 p.m. (Business Insider South Africa) 

Schools reopen for the first time since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. (The New York Times) 

North Korea confirms it has tested a new long-range cruise missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The missiles are a “strategic weapon of great significance”, according to state media. (BBC) 

Emily Claire Hari, the leader of an Illinois-based, anti-government militia group, is sentenced to 53 years in prison for masterminding the August 2017 bombing of the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. (AP) 

Norwegians go to the polls to elect the new Storting. The opposition Labour Party led by Jonas Gahr Støre wins the most seats and is expected to form a left-wing dominated government. The Centre Party, Red Party, Socialist Left Party and Green Party also gained seats. Prime Minister Erna Solberg concedes defeat. (Reuters) 

North Korea conducts 1st missile test in months North Korea successfully launched newly developed long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, state media Korea Central News Agency reported Monday. The report said the launch met leader Kim Jong Un’s defense goals, hinting at the missiles’ possible nuclear capabilities. It was the country’s first missile test in six months, escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The development came as President Biden’s nuclear envoy, Sung Kim, is scheduled to travel to Tokyo to meet with Japanese and South Korean officials. Kim said last month in South Korea that he was ready to meet with North Korean counterparts “anywhere, at any time” to restart stalled negotiations on curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear program. THE WASHINGTON POST 

Surgeon general defends Biden vaccine requirements Surgeon General Vivek Murthy defended the Biden administration’s new coronavirus vaccine requirements in schools and big businesses. “We know these kind of requirements actually work to improve our vaccination rates,” Murthy said on ABC’s This Week. President Biden is using the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to make companies with more than 100 workers mandate employee vaccinations. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said on NBC’s Meet the Press that the new vaccine requirement was “an unprecedented assumption of federal mandate authority” that “hardens the resistance” to vaccinations by overstepping federal authority and “increasing distrust with the government.” POLITICO 

Taliban minister unveils gender-segregated education policy The Taliban’s new government in Afghanistan will let women continue studying in universities, but only in gender-segregated classrooms, the interim government’s higher education minister, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, said Sunday. Women on campus will have to wear traditional Islamic dress, he said. The announcement came a day after the Taliban raised its flag over the presidential palace in a sign that the new government was getting to work. Also on Sunday, Qatar’s foreign minister reportedly arrived in the Afghan capital of Kabul. He is the highest-level visitor since the Taliban last week unveiled its interim Cabinet, which includes many Islamist stalwarts. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Video emerges of Al Qaeda leader believed dead Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who has been rumored dead for months, appeared in a video marking Saturday’s 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites. In the clip, al-Zawahiri praised Al Qaida attacks, including one in January that targeted Russian troops in Syria. He also mentioned the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war, but said nothing about the Taliban’s takeover in the country last month, raising questions about how recently the recording was made. “He could still be dead, though if so, it would have been at some point in or after Jan. 2021,” tweeted Rita Katz, SITE’s director. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

NYC school year starts with no remote-learning option New York City public school students return to class on Monday in what amounts to the biggest experiment yet for in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic. Teachers are under a vaccine mandate requiring them to get their first doses no later than Sept. 27, with no test-out option. The city’s roughly 1 million students won’t have to be vaccinated, except those participating in contact sports. All students must wear masks. Unlike some school districts, New York City schools won’t offer a remote-learning option despite the Delta-variant-fueled coronavirus surge. “Our kids need to be in school and it’s unbelievable that some kids haven’t seen the inside of a classroom for a year and a half,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Barrett says Supreme Court justices aren’t ‘partisan hacks’ U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Sunday pushed back against criticism of partisanship on the high court. “My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks,” Barrett said at a Sunday celebration of the 30th anniversary of the McConnell Center, which provides scholarship opportunities at the University of Louisville. Barrett, who was appointed by then-President Donald Trump in 2020 just before his November election loss, said the justices’ “judicial philosophies,” not their political parties, matter most. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who founded the center, played a key role in pushing through Barrett’s confirmation to widen the court’s conservative majority. LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL 

The End