News in Brief
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. border agents detained nearly 100,000 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in February, according to two people familiar with preliminary figures, the highest monthly total since a major border surge in mid-2019. Last month’s total would represent the highest tally for the month of February since 2006. The sources who provided the figures to Reuters spoke on the condition of anonymity. An increasing number of children arriving at the border without a parent or legal guardian has forced U.S. officials in recent weeks to scramble for housing options and take steps to speed up their release to sponsors in the United States. The nearly 100,000 migrants detained at the border in February represent an increase over a figure of 78,000 in January. February’s total appears to be the highest monthly number since June 2019 during a large border surge that Trump cited as justification for a broad immigration crackdown. U.S. Border Patrol agents caught more than 4,500 migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in a single day on Wednesday, according to government figures shared with Reuters, a sign that illegal entries could continue to rise in March.
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BEIJING (Reuters) -- China’s 2021 defense spending will rise 6.8% from 2020, up slightly from last year’s increase and broadly tracking the government’s modest growth forecast, as the world’s second-largest economy emerges from the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic. Premier Li Keqiang pledged that efforts to strengthen the People’s Liberation Army, which is developing an array of weapons from stealthy fighters to aircraft carriers, would continue apace in the face of what China views as multiple security threats. The spending figure, set at 1.35 trillion yuan ($208.47 billion) in the national budget released on Friday, is closely watched as a barometer of how aggressively the country will beef up its military.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Republican Senator Ted Cruz put a hold on President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency to pressure the administration to put tough sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project. The Senate Intelligence Committee this week backed William Burns, a former ambassador to Russia, by a unanimous vote. Burns has been confirmed by the Senate for five previous jobs over 33 years and is expected to eventually be approved by the full Senate. The hold is a delaying tactic as the Texas senator pressures the administration to sanction ships and companies helping Russia’s state energy company Gazprom build the $11 billion pipeline to take gas under the Baltic Sea to Europe via Germany. After a year’s delay caused by sanctions, Gazprom is racing to finish the pipeline which analysts expect could happen by September. A second vessel, the Akademik Cherskiy, has joined the construction site off Denmark.
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ASUNCION (Reuters) -- Protesters clashed with police in Paraguay´s capital, Asuncion, late on Friday as anger over the government´s handling of the coronavirus crisis boiled onto the streets and forced the resignation of the country´s top health official. Security forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas on hundreds of rioters who gathered around the Congress building in downtown Asuncion, while protesters broke down security barriers, burned road barricades and threw stones at police. The riots, which turned the capital’s historic center into a make-shift battlefield of fire, smoke and gunshots, broke out amid growing outrage as coronavirus infections hit record levels and hospitals verged on collapse throughout the South American nation. "It is a pity that young people have taken this too far. They are people who seek only to destroy,” Interior Minister Arnaldo Giuzzio told the Telefuturo television channel. "This violence does not make sense.” Earlier on Friday, health minister Julio Mazzoleni resigned, a day after lawmakers called for his ouster.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A U.S. agency investigating Facebook Inc for racial bias in hiring and promotions has designated the probe as "systemic,” attorneys for three job applicants and a manager who claim the company discriminated against them told Reuters on Friday. A "systemic” probe means the agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, suspects company policies may be contributing to widespread discrimination. Facebook operations program manager Oscar Veneszee Jr. and two applicants denied jobs brought a charge last July to the EEOC, and a third rejected applicant joined the case in December. They have alleged Facebook discriminates against Black candidates and employees by relying on subjective evaluations and promoting problematic racial stereotypes.
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ROME (Reuters) -- An Italian prosecutor on Saturday demanded life sentences for two young Americans being tried on murder charges after a policeman was killed following a botched drugs sale in Rome. Finnegan Lee Elder, who was 19 at the time, has admitted to stabbing Mario Cerciello Rega in the early hours of July 26, 2019, while his friend Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, then 18, was tussling with another police officer. Under Italian law, anyone who participates even indirectly in a murder can face murder charges. The two Americans, both from California, have said they did not know that Cerciello or his partner, Andrea Varriale, were police officers, telling the court that neither man had identified themselves. Varriale has denied this, testifying that they had shown their two assailants their badges. Cerciello’s badge was not found at the crime scene.
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BEIJING (Reuters) -- China’s 2021 defense spending will rise 6.8% from 2020, up slightly from last year’s increase and broadly tracking the government’s modest growth forecast, as the world’s second-largest economy emerges from the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic. Premier Li Keqiang pledged that efforts to strengthen the People’s Liberation Army, which is developing an array of weapons from stealthy fighters to aircraft carriers, would continue apace in the face of what China views as multiple security threats. The spending figure, set at 1.35 trillion yuan ($208.47 billion) in the national budget released on Friday, is closely watched as a barometer of how aggressively the country will beef up its military.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Republican Senator Ted Cruz put a hold on President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency to pressure the administration to put tough sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project. The Senate Intelligence Committee this week backed William Burns, a former ambassador to Russia, by a unanimous vote. Burns has been confirmed by the Senate for five previous jobs over 33 years and is expected to eventually be approved by the full Senate. The hold is a delaying tactic as the Texas senator pressures the administration to sanction ships and companies helping Russia’s state energy company Gazprom build the $11 billion pipeline to take gas under the Baltic Sea to Europe via Germany. After a year’s delay caused by sanctions, Gazprom is racing to finish the pipeline which analysts expect could happen by September. A second vessel, the Akademik Cherskiy, has joined the construction site off Denmark.
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ASUNCION (Reuters) -- Protesters clashed with police in Paraguay´s capital, Asuncion, late on Friday as anger over the government´s handling of the coronavirus crisis boiled onto the streets and forced the resignation of the country´s top health official. Security forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas on hundreds of rioters who gathered around the Congress building in downtown Asuncion, while protesters broke down security barriers, burned road barricades and threw stones at police. The riots, which turned the capital’s historic center into a make-shift battlefield of fire, smoke and gunshots, broke out amid growing outrage as coronavirus infections hit record levels and hospitals verged on collapse throughout the South American nation. "It is a pity that young people have taken this too far. They are people who seek only to destroy,” Interior Minister Arnaldo Giuzzio told the Telefuturo television channel. "This violence does not make sense.” Earlier on Friday, health minister Julio Mazzoleni resigned, a day after lawmakers called for his ouster.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A U.S. agency investigating Facebook Inc for racial bias in hiring and promotions has designated the probe as "systemic,” attorneys for three job applicants and a manager who claim the company discriminated against them told Reuters on Friday. A "systemic” probe means the agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, suspects company policies may be contributing to widespread discrimination. Facebook operations program manager Oscar Veneszee Jr. and two applicants denied jobs brought a charge last July to the EEOC, and a third rejected applicant joined the case in December. They have alleged Facebook discriminates against Black candidates and employees by relying on subjective evaluations and promoting problematic racial stereotypes.
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ROME (Reuters) -- An Italian prosecutor on Saturday demanded life sentences for two young Americans being tried on murder charges after a policeman was killed following a botched drugs sale in Rome. Finnegan Lee Elder, who was 19 at the time, has admitted to stabbing Mario Cerciello Rega in the early hours of July 26, 2019, while his friend Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, then 18, was tussling with another police officer. Under Italian law, anyone who participates even indirectly in a murder can face murder charges. The two Americans, both from California, have said they did not know that Cerciello or his partner, Andrea Varriale, were police officers, telling the court that neither man had identified themselves. Varriale has denied this, testifying that they had shown their two assailants their badges. Cerciello’s badge was not found at the crime scene.