Monday morning news - May 23, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

U.S. military flies emergency baby formula supplies from Europe » U.S. Military planes usually carry emergency supplies out of the country to other nations in need, but this time, it’s the other way around.

A cargo plane carrying baby formula from Germany arrived in Indianapolis on Sunday.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack:

VILSACK: The reason why we are doing this is obviously the critical need that is out there. It would take approximately two weeks for the normal commercial process to work. As a result of the United States military’s involvement, we’re going to get this here in a matter of days.

The C-17 cargo plane carried enough formula to fill more than a half-million bottles. The flight brought 15 percent of the specialty medical grade formula needed in the United States.

It was the first of several flights expected from Europe aimed at easing the nationwide formula shortage.

Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council said people should see “more formula in stores starting as early as this week.”

Contamination forced a shutdown of the nation’s largest baby formula plant. That has fueled much of the nation’s shortage.

Biden wraps up South Korea trip, plans to announce economic plan in Japan » President Biden wrapped up a visit to South Korea on Sunday. In remarks at Osan Air Base, Biden told service members monitoring the North Korean nuclear threat…

BIDEN: You are on the front line of everything we’re concerned about. You represent the commitment [that] our two countries made to each other and the strength of the U.S.-ROK alliance.

He wrapped up his three-day trip to South Korea by showcasing Hyundai's pledge to invest at least $10 billion in the United States.

BIDEN: The new facility should be rolling out the latest electric vehicles and batteries to power them by 2025.

He said that will create thousands of jobs in the state of Georgia.

This morning, the president is in Japan where he’s planning to announce an economic plan to counter Beijing in the Indo-Pacific region.

President Biden approves Ukraine aid » While in South Korea over the weekend, President Biden signed into law a massive new aid package for Ukraine. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: The legislation passed Congress with big bipartisan majorities. It will provide $40 billion in military and economic aid.

It is intended to support Ukraine through September, and it dwarfs an earlier emergency measure that granted roughly thirteen-and-a-half billion.

The new legislation provides $20 billion in military assistance. That will ensure that advanced weapons continue to flow to Ukraine to help blunt Russia’s advances.

It also gives a billion dollars to help refugees—$8 billion in economic support and $5 billion to fight global food shortages brought on by Russia’s invasion.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

W.H.O. chief: The pandemic isn’t over » The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Ghebreyesus, warned on Sunday that we’re nowhere near being out of the woods with COVID-19.

GHEBREYESUS: No, it’s most certainly not over. I know that’s not the message you want to hear, and it’s definitely not the message I want to deliver.

He said cases are now on the rise “in almost 70 countries in all regions, and this is in a world in which testing rates have plummeted.”

He added that “this virus has surprised us at every turn.”

GHEBREYESUS: A storm that has torn though communities again and again, and we still can’t predict its path or its intensity.

Cases continue to rise in the United States. That’s been the case for nearly two months now. That increase has been somewhat slow and steady—nothing like the huge omicron spike in December and January.

Still, U.S. cases have more than tripled since March—from about 29,000 infections per day to nearly 100,000 per day. But deaths have continued to slowly decline.

White House virus response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha told ABC’s This Week that Congress must step up with more pandemic funding now.

JHA: If they don’t, we will go into the fall and winter without that next generation of vaccines, without treatments and diagnostics. That’s going to make it much, much harder for us to take care of and protect Americans.

Jha also recommended Americans continue to—or return to—wearing masks indoors in public.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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