WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday issued a stark warning that a failure by Congress to act on the debt ceiling could trigger a “constitutional crisis” that also would call into question the federal government’s creditworthiness. Yellen sounded the alarm over possible financial market consequences if the debt ceiling is not raised by early June, when she has said the federal government could run short of cash to pay its bills. The negotiations on the issue should not take place “with a gun to the head of the American people”, Yellen told the ABC program “This Week.” Biden has asked Congress to raise the debt ceiling with no conditions. The Republican-led House of Representatives last month passed a bill that would raise the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, but the measure included sweeping spending cuts over the next decade that Biden and his fellow Democrats oppose. Biden is preparing to meet on Tuesday at the White House with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and top congressional Democrats to discuss the issue.

 

***

BANGKOK (AFP) – Thais queued under the blistering sun outside temples, shopping centers and schools to cast their early ballots Sunday ahead of a much-anticipated election next week. More than two million Thais nationwide are registered to vote early ahead of the kingdom’s May 14 election, which is shaping up to be a clash between army-backed establishment parties and resurgent opposition movements. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha, who took power in a 2014 coup before cementing control in a controversial 2019 election, has been languishing in opinion polls with voters favoring old-school opposition party Pheu Thai and the more radical Move Forward Party. But with an electoral system heavily stacked in favor of the army-backed parties, challengers must achieve a landslide victory to have any hope of forming the next government.

 

***

WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – The Pentagon has started to implement a law that requires the provision of mental health services for help-seeking U.S. troops amid a soaring number of suicide cases among active-duty forces. The Brandon Act, passed into law as part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), requires the U.S. military to provide a mental health evaluation if a service member self-reports a problem or seeks help. The law, signed by Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gilbert Cisneros, also allows service members and active-duty troops to seek confidential help outside the chain of command in an attempt to reduce the stigma around mental health. The legislation languished for more than a year after its passage in 2022, with the Pentagon claiming that it was working on how best to put into effect the requirements of the act. Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton, who sponsored the act, said in a statement. “Shame on the Pentagon bureaucrats who took 15 months, during which even more service members died by suicide, to make this happen. The DOD still has a lot of work to do to curb the shockingly high number of suicides among our young men and women who serve, but this is a big step in the right direction.”

 

***

MADRID (Dispatches) – At least 80,000 Spanish police officers took part in a protest against security policies pursued by Pedro Sanchez’s government, in downtown Madrid on Saturday. Organizers of the protest, representing officers from the National Police (Policia Nacional), Civil Guard (Guardia Civil), and prison guards, stressed that the demonstration was organized because of the differences between the salaries of local law enforcement and federal law enforcement. Demonstrators brought banners stating: “Stop discriminating against us!”, “Justice for all!”, “Decent salaries and pensions!” and others. Protesters also chanted slogans such as: “Fair wages” and “We fight for our rights” The head of the police syndicate Jusapol, which co-organized the march, Miguel Gomez, told the media present at the protest that the discrepancies in the salaries of officers subordinate to the government and regional police formations harm state security and bring a bad atmosphere to the services. “Police officers in regional formations can retire as early as 59, while we can only retire six years later, losing additionally more than EUR 1,000 a month,” Gomez said, TVP World reported.

 

***

KINSHASA (AFP) – The death toll from floods and landslides in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to nearly 400, an administrative official said Sunday. At least 394 bodies have been recovered after last week’s floods, said Thomas Bakenga, administrator of Kalehe territory where the affected villages are located. He had announced a toll of at least 203 people on Saturday. Heavy rainfall in the Kalehe region of South Kivu province caused rivers to overflow, causing landslides that engulfed the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi. The hillside also gave way at Nyamukubi, where the weekly market was held on Thursday, Bakenga has previously said. “We now have more than 390 bodies recovered,” he told AFP on Sunday by telephone. He added that 142 bodies were discovered at Bushushu, 132 at Nyamukubi and 120 had been found floating on Lake Kivu near Idjwi, an island in the middle of the large volcanic lake.

 

***

ROME (Reuters) – Italy remains dissatisfied with the apologies offered by Paris after a French minister accused Rome of mishandling the influx of migrants, Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Sunday. “Clearer words are needed,” Tajani, who is member of the conservative Forza Italia party, told Italian state-owned television RAI in an interview. “I hope that the French government changes its position and that an apology comes that represents a contrast to the positions adopted by the Interior Minister. I will be happy to accept them.” French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said last week that Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had been “unable to solve the migration problems on which she was elected”. Darmanin added that Meloni was “lying” to voters that she could end the migrant crisis. Tajani called off a visit to Paris at the last minute on Thursday in a sign of protest over what he considered an “insult” to Italy.