News Briefs

Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 trial postponed. A federal judge in Washington has formally postponed Donald Trump’s March trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election as a key legal appeal from the former president continues to work its way through the courts. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday vacated the March 4 trial date but did not immediately set a new date. The postponement comes as a federal appeals court has yet to resolve a pending appeal from Mr. Trump arguing that he is immune from prosecution for actions he took in the White House.

The U.S. Supreme Court will make a historic ruling on whether the Constitution disqualifies Donald Trump from running for president. Ahead of the Feb. 8 oral argument, the Monitor is previewing the most important questions. 

“Take Our Border Back” convoy to rally near U.S.-Mexico border. A vehicle convoy carrying Americans opposed to illegal immigration set off from Virginia this week and aims to hold events near Eagle Pass, Texas – the site of an ongoing standoff between the U.S. state and federal authorities over border security – as well as in Yuma, Arizona, and San Ysidro, California. Organizers say the action will focus on peaceful protest and prayer, while critics worry it could fuel anti-immigrant sentiment at a time of acrimonious political sparring over the border and high numbers of migrant crossings.

While immigration compromise has long eluded lawmakers, a number of factors recently aligned to make a border security deal seem possible. But opposition from former President Donald Trump may halt the momentum.

Residents of Eagle Pass, Texas, live with the border crisis in ways most of the rest of the U.S. does not. They want a secure border. They also want humane treatment of migrants.

Strong U.S. jobs report defies expectations. Few saw this coming. A year ago, most economists envisioned a bleak 2023 for the United States. The economy, they warned, seemed sure to falter, probably sinking into a recession, with employers adding barely 100,000 jobs a month on average. But the nation’s employers delivered a stunning burst of hiring to begin 2024, adding 353,000 jobs in January in the latest sign of the economy’s continuing ability to shrug off the highest interest rates in two decades. Average hourly pay climbed a sharp 0.6% from December, the fastest monthly gain in nearly two years.

Good jobs and reliable infrastructure propel prosperity. People notice when they’re missing but don’t always remember them in the voting booth.

Extreme cold blankets Alaska. Much of Alaska has plunged into a deep freeze, with temperatures well below zero. Anchorage has seen some of its coldest temperatures in years and the mayor opened warming facilities for people who are facing homeless or don’t have reliable heating. To the south in the state capital, Juneau, snow blanketed streets and rooftops as part of a two-day storm that helped set a new January snowfall record of 6.4 feet for the city, which is nestled in a relatively temperate rainforest. That’s after back-to-back storms walloped Juneau earlier in the month.

A budding Arctic conservation economy combines ancient community knowledge with modern science to preserve the Indigenous “right to be cold.”

Groundhog Day predicts an early spring. Punxsutawney Phil at Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania, the largest and best-known Groundhog Day celebration in the United States, predicts spring is on its way. Just after sunrise, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club announced Phil did not see his shadow, which, according to tradition, ushers in early springlike weather. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro urged people around the world watching the festivities to visit Punxsutawney next year and announced Phil is the state’s new official meteorologist. A federal agency took a look at Phil’s record last year and put his accuracy rate at about 40%.

The EU greenlights new aid package for Ukraine. European Union leaders unanimously agreed on Thursday to extend €50 billion ($54 billion) in new aid to Ukraine, the chairman of the summit said, overcoming weeks of resistance from Hungary and winning praise from Kyiv. Before the summit started, EU leaders piled pressure on Hungary to lift its block, telling Prime Minister Viktor Orban to pick sides in what several saw as an existential challenge posed by Russia’s war in Ukraine, the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II.

America’s robust support for Ukraine has resonated across Europe and beyond. Yet as Congress holds up new aid, and Ukraine’s supplies dwindle, comes a question: Has the U.S. support shifted from “as long as it takes” to “as long as we could”?

Donald Trump’s election victories have concentrated European minds on the possibility of a second presidential term. The bloc is still far short of having a credible Plan B, either for arming Ukraine, or to safeguard itself against an emboldened Vladimir Putin.

House passes a bipartisan child tax credit expansion. The House accomplished something unusual Jan. 31 in passing with broad, bipartisan support a roughly $79 billion tax cut package that would enhance the child tax credit for millions of lower-income families and boost three tax breaks for businesses, a combination that gives lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle policy wins. Prospects for the measure becoming law are uncertain with the Senate still having to take it up, but for a House that has struggled to get bills of consequence over the finish line, the tax legislation could represent a rare breakthrough.

Many social welfare programs target specific forms of assistance for specific groups. In 2021, the expanded child tax credit became a test of a different model: cash assistance for families, with no strings attached.

U.S. blames Iran-backed militias for Jordan drone attack. The United States attributed the drone attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias, as President Joe Biden weighs his options to respond to the strike. Iran threatened to “decisively respond” to any U.S. attack on the Islamic Republic after the U.S. said it held Tehran responsible. The U.S. has signaled it is preparing for retaliatory strikes in the wake of the Jan. 28 drone attack that also wounded more than 40 troops at Tower 22, a secretive base in northeastern Jordan.

The U.S. pledged to retaliate after a lethal attack on American soldiers in Jordan. The Biden administration’s next steps are pivotal in shaping how far the U.S. is drawn into the escalating Middle East conflict.

Storm Ingunn, Norway’s biggest in 30 years, batters the country. Residents of central Norway awoke to scenes of havoc and homes without power following the country’s most powerful storm in more than three decades. Hurricane-force winds hit parts of the Scandinavian country, with gusts of up to 112 m.p.h. Some areas were flooded, and airlines and ferry operators temporarily suspended service. Hurricane-strength gusts were also reported overnight in Sweden. The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute issued a red warning, its highest alert, for the western part of the Norrbottens district, which borders Norway.

The extreme weather that’s recently affected communities across the world will likely occur more often. But there are ways to become more adaptable, according to a climate expert.

Greta Thunberg in U.K. court after protesting a fossil fuel event. Climate activist Greta Thunberg is on trial for protesting outside a major oil and gas industry conference, the Energy Intelligence Forum, in London last year. The 21-year-old Swedish environmental activist and four Fossil Free London protesters went on trial Feb. 1 on a charge of violating a public order, pleading not guilty. They were among more than two dozen protesters arrested on Oct. 17 after blocking access to a hotel. Ms. Thunberg and the others are charged with breaching a law that allows police to impose limits on public assemblies. 

A spectacularly connected new generation is shaping a global ethos that may well be the most hopeful answer to climate change. A Monitor team traveled the globe to explore this in a seven-part series.

Social media CEOs testify about child safety on their sites. The CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X, and others are testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee about protecting children on their platforms. The hearing comes as lawmakers and parents grow increasingly concerned about the effects of social media on young people. While Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is a veteran of congressional hearings, it will only be the second time for TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and the first for Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of the former Twitter. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Discord CEO Jason Citron are also scheduled to testify.

Pakistan’s former prime minister gets another sentence. A Pakistani court sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife to 14 years in prison for corruption, prison officials said, a day after another special court handed Mr. Khan a 10-year sentence for leaking state secrets. The latest conviction and sentencing were Mr. Khan’s third since 2022, when he was ousted from power, coming ahead of Pakistan’s Feb. 8 elections. Mr. Khan – who in the waning days of his premiership began to challenge the country’s military – lost a no-confidence vote in April 2022 and now faces more than 150 legal cases.

Central to a functioning democracy is the freedom to choose one’s own leaders. But as Pakistan entered a transition period last fall, many saw familiar cycles of disenfranchisement.

Oregon leaders declare state of emergency over fentanyl. Several elected leaders in Oregon declared a state of emergency for downtown Portland over the public health and public safety crisis fueled by fentanyl. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson made the declaration for a 90-day period during which collaboration and response will come from a command center downtown. The three governments are directing their agencies to work with first responders in connecting people addicted to the synthetic opioid with resources including drug treatment programs and to crack down on drug sales.

What’s the most compassionate way to treat those experiencing addiction? After experimenting with drug decriminalization, Oregon is still trying to figure that out.

More European farmers demand government support. French and Belgian farmers set up dozens of blockades on highways and on access roads to a major container port on Jan. 31 to press governments to ease environmental rules and protect them from rising costs and cheap imports. Protests have spread across Europe. Spanish farmers said they would join the movement, while 1,000 Italian farmers were planning to take part in rallies in Brussels on Feb. 1, to press European Union leaders meeting in the capital to act. German and Romanian farmers with similar grievances have also taken action.

An explorer claims to have found Amelia Earhart’s lost plane. A former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer says he believes he has found the wreckage of Ms. Earhart’s plane, which disappeared nine decades ago, on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean using sonar data from a deep-sea drone. Hoping to solve an 87-year-old mystery, explorer Tony Romeo plans to launch a mission later this year or next to find the long-lost plane, which a massive U.S. search failed to do in 1937. He believes the wreckage lies more than 16,400 feet beneath the surface, roughly halfway between Hawaii and Australia.

Pakistan’s former prime minister gets 10 years for leaking state secrets. A Pakistan court sentenced Imran Khan to 10 years’ jail on Jan. 30 for leaking state secrets, his party said, the harshest sentence against the former prime minister and cricketer in multiple cases coming just days before national elections. The special court found Mr. Khan guilty of making public the contents of a secret cable sent by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington to the government in Islamabad. The popular politician received a three-year sentence in a corruption case in August, which ruled him out of the spotlight ahead of the Feb. 8 elections.

In Pakistan, two former prime ministers, both accused of corruption, are receiving different treatment from authorities. What does fairness look like in a case with so many missteps and injustices?

The Philippines and Vietnam agree to cooperate in South China Sea. The two nations have signed agreements to avoid incidents in the South China Sea and broaden cooperation between their coast guards. The growing alliance will likely be frowned upon by China, which claims virtually the entire waters. The agreements, along with discussions on enhancing information-sharing and training exchanges between the Vietnamese and Philippine militaries, were forged during a visit to Hanoi by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Vietnam also agreed to supply the Philippines with affordable rice each year to ensure stable supplies.

Alaska on track for its snowiest winter. Even by Alaska standards, there’s a lot of snow this winter. A new storm has dropped nearly 16 more inches of snow on Anchorage, bringing the seasonal total past 100 inches. It’s the earliest Alaska’s largest city has reached that mark, which has caused collapsed roofs, snow-filled streets, and shuttered schools. Some fun has come from a whole lot of snow. One Anchorage homeowner built a three-tiered snowman standing over 20-feet-tall. Snowzilla, as it’s named, has drawn people to snap photos.

Home Forum: An unexpected snowfall in Oregon inspired this essay writer to see and experience the world through a child’s eyes, infusing the monotony of grown-up life with wonder and exuberance.