US to create center targeting foreign election interference
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said Monday that it will establish a new center responding to what the U.S. intelligence community has assessed as attempts by Russia and other adversaries to interfere with American elections.
The Foreign Malign Influence Center will be housed in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which coordinates information sharing among U.S. spy agencies.
In a statement, ODNI said the center “will be focused on coordinating and integrating intelligence pertaining to malign influence, drawing together relevant and diverse expertise to better understand and monitor the challenge.”
U.S. authorities continue to raise alarms about foreign interference in elections following several investigations into the ties between former President Donald Trump’s successful 2016 campaign and Russian intelligence.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s nearly two-year investigation found no conclusive evidence that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia, but Mueller declined to pass judgment on whether Trump obstructed justice.
The creation of a center targeting outside malign influence is a major shift from the previous administration. Trump repeatedly attacked the Mueller investigation and other probes of foreign involvement, pressuring authorities to downplay reports of election interference.
A declassified assessment released in March found that Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations intended to help Trump last year. Iran tried to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the election results, and China “considered but did not deploy” influence operations, the assessment said.
Summer food program:
The Biden administration is expanding a program to feed as many as 34 million schoolchildren during the summer months, using funds from the coronavirus relief package approved in March.
The Agriculture Department announced Monday that it will continue through the summer a payments program that replaced school meals because the pandemic left many children with virtual classes.
Families of eligible children would receive $6.82 per child for each weekday. That adds up to $375 per child over the summer months.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called the summer benefits a “firstof-its-kind, game-changing intervention to reduce child hunger in the United States.”
The program reflects the Biden administration’s attempts to nearly stamp out child poverty — an unprecedented push with money for parents, child care centers and schools that could revamp the social safety net. Conservative critics have warned that the spending, if made permanent, could undermine the willingness of poorer Americans to work.
Navalny’s offices targeted: Russian authorities Monday ordered the offices of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny to halt their activities pending what would be a landmark court ruling on whether they should be outlawed as an extremist group.
The injunction from the
Moscow prosecutor’s office was another step in a sweeping crackdown on Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic, and his organizations. The prosecutor’s office petitioned a court this month to label Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and network of regional offices as extremist groups.
It is a major challenge for Navalny’s embattled team, with its leader in prison and dozens of its members under arrest, targeted for raids by law enforcement, or facing criminal charges. Such a label would outlaw their activities and expose members and supporters to lengthy prison terms, according to human rights advocates.
Philippines cases top 1M:
Coronavirus infections in the Philippines surged past 1 million Monday in the country’s latest grim milestone, as officials assess whether to extend a monthlong lockdown in the Manila region
amid a deadly spike or relax it to fight an economic recession, joblessness and hunger.
The Department of Health reported 8,929 new infections Monday, bringing the country’s total to 1,006,428, including 16,853 deaths. The totals are the second highest in Southeast Asia after Indonesia.
The Philippines imposed its first massive coronavirus lockdown in March last year, shutting down most businesses, confining millions of people to their homes and shutting public transport.
The heavy restrictions were eased later in the year, but the economy still contracted by 9.6% in 2020, with unemployment and hunger at their worst in years.
Another year in Iranian
prison: An Iranian-British woman long held in Tehran has been sentenced to another year in prison, her lawyer said Monday, drawing immediate criticism from Britain in the high-profile
case that has prompted international condemnation of Iran.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has already served a fiveyear prison sentence in the Islamic Republic. Her new sentence comes amid ongoing negotiations in Vienna over Iran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers and as Tehran seeks hundreds of millions of dollars from Britain from a decades-old arms deal.
Her lawyer, Hojjat Kermani, said she received the second sentence on a charge of spreading “propaganda against the system” for participating in a protest in front of the Iranian Embassy in London in 2009.
State media in Iran did not immediately acknowledge the sentence.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson immediately condemned the new sentence.
“I don’t think it is right at all that Nazanin should be sentenced to any more time in jail,” he said. “I think it is
wrong that she is there in the first place, and we will be working very hard to secure her release from Iran, her ability to return to her family here in the U.K.”
Senate seat in Ohio: U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a 10-term representative from Ohio’s blue-collar Mahoning Valley, officially launched his bid Monday for a coveted open Senate seat in Ohio.
Ryan, 47, becomes the Democratic front-runner as the party goes after Republican Rob Portman’s seat in what stands to be one of 2022’s most closely watched Senate contests.
“I am running to fight like hell in the U.S. Senate to cut workers in on the deal,” Ryan said in a video announcing his candidacy. “Ohioans are working harder than ever, they’re doing everything right, and they’re still falling behind.
Portman decided earlier this year not to seek a third term, setting up a heated showdown for the seat.