Friday morning news - April 16, 2021

Blinken visits Afghanistan to sell troop pullout » Secretary of State Tony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday, doing his best to sell Afghan leaders on President Biden’s plans to pull all American troops out of the country this summer.

BLINKEN: Even when our troops come home, our partnership with Afghanistan will continue. Our security partnership will endure.

Biden announced this week that the 2,500 U.S. soldiers remaining in the country would be coming home by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told Blinken, “We respect the decision and are adjusting our priorities.”

NATO immediately followed Biden’s lead on Wednesday, saying its roughly 7,000 non-American forces in Afghanistan would also be departing within a few months.

Secretary Blinken explained on Thursday,

BLINKEN: We never intended to have a permanent military presence here, but the threat from al Qaeda in Afghanistan is significantly degraded.

But critics say the ground gained against al Qaeda and other terror groups in the country will quickly be lost as soon as U.S. forces depart. GOP Senator Marco Rubio:

RUBIO: I wish that the situation in Afghanistan were different, right? I wish that the was an Afghan government that was strong and a Taliban that was headed towards defeat. That said, that’s not the trend this has taken.

Some critics have cited as a cautionary tale the American military drawdown in Iraq prior to the rise of ISIS.

US expels Russian diplomats in new round of sanctions » The United States is expelling 10 Russian diplomats while imposing sanctions on dozens of companies and people.

At a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday, Chairman Adam Schiff said Moscow is guilty of many infractions.

SCHIFF: Election interference, attempted murder, illegal invasion and occupation of Crimea, reported bounties, continued cyberhacks, that list is not exhaustive. But the actions taken to respond and more importantly name and shame Russia and sanction those responsible is absolutely critical.

Sanctions against six Russian companies that support the country’s cyber attacks represent the first measures against the Kremlin for the hack commonly known as the SolarWinds breach.

The U.S. on Thursday also explicitly linked the hack to a Russian intelligence agency called the SVR.

The U.S. also announced sanctions on 32 individuals and entities accused of trying to interfere in last year’s presidential election.

Democratic lawmakers launch legislative effort to expand the Supreme Court » A group of Democratic lawmakers has launched a legislative effort to expand the Supreme Court.

Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey announced the effort alongside several other Democrats in front of the high court on Thursday.

MARKEY: We are here today because the United States Supreme Court is broken. It is out of balance, and it needs to be fixed.

Joining Congressman Markey—House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. and Judiciary members Mondaire Jones and Hank Johnson.

The lawmakers argued that they’re not trying to pack the court. They said it was Republicans who packed the court by denying President Obama’s high court pick, Merrick Garland, and holding the seat open for President Trump to fill.

They say to bring the court back into balance, President Biden should be allowed to pick four new justices. The Judiciary Act of 2021 is a two-page bill that would expand the court to 13 seats.

But the Republican Ranking Member on the Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan, pushed back.

JORDAN: The left controls big media, they control big tech, they control big sports, they control Hollywood, they control higher education, they control the Congress, they control the White House. And now because they don’t have control of the Supreme Court, they’re going to add four people to the court. They control everything. This is a radical takeover of the country.

President Biden recently announced a 36-member commission that will examine the question of expanding the high court.

Jobless claims plummet as retail sales jump » The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits tumbled last week to the lowest level since the pandemic began. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has more.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN: The Labor Dept. reported 576,000 jobless claims last week. That was a 25 percent drop from the week before.

It was the latest sign that the economy is bouncing back.

In March, employers added more than 900,000 jobs, the most since August. That dropped the unemployment rate to 6 percent, less than half the pandemic peak of 14.8 percent.

Retail sales also jumped in March. Sales at stores, car dealers, restaurants and bars jumped by nearly 10 percent—the biggest gain in nearly a year.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

Defense rests in Chauvin trial » The defense rested its case in Minneapolis Thursday at the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd.

And it rested without putting Chauvin on the stand.

Before the jury was brought into the courtroom, Judge Peter Cahill addressed Chauvin directly.

CAHILL: Is this your decision not to testify?
CHAUVIN: It is, your honor.
CAHILL: Do you have any questions about your right to remain silent or to testify on your own behalf?
CHAUVIN: Not at this time I don’t.

The prosecution briefly recalled a lung and critical care expert to counter the testimony of a defense witness. And with that, both sides finished presenting their cases.

The judge then addressed the jury.

CAHILL: Members of the jury, the evidence is now complete for this case. The next step is for you to listen to closing arguments and then retire for deliberations.

That will happen on Monday.

Meantime, another former Minnesota police officer made her first appearance in court. Kim Potter is facing a second-degree manslaughter charge in the death of a young black man.

Potter fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop on Sunday in suburban Minneapolis. The incident has sparked days of unrest.

(Abdul Khaleq/Associated Press) U.S. Marines board helicopters in Now Zad, in Helmand province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.