Tuesday morning news - April 12, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Biden urges Modi not to step up Indian use of Russian oil » The White House is urging India not to accelerate the buying of Russian oil as the West ratchets up sanctions and pressure on Moscow.

President Biden met remotely with Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi on Monday. And Press Secretary Jen Paski told reporters …

PSAKI: The president also made clear that he does not believe it’s in India’s interest to accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities.

India only imports about 1 to 2 percent of its energy from Russia. But Biden told Modi that the U.S. government could help India diversify its sources of energy.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also chimed in on Monday.

AUSTIN: Now more than ever, democracies must stand together to defend the values that we all share.

The two leaders ended the meeting with Biden saying they committed to strengthening their relationship.

But Modi made no public commitment to refrain from Russian oil and that has become a source of tension with the United States.

India’s neutral stance in the war has raised concerns in Washington and earned praise from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He lauded India this month for judging the situation—quote—“in its entirety, not just in a one-sided way.”

Biden takes aim at ‘ghost guns,’ announces pick to head ATF » At the White House on Monday, President Biden once again took aim at so-called ghost guns. Those are privately made firearms without serial numbers, often assembled from kits.

BIDEN: These guns are weapons of choice for many criminals. We’re going to do everything we can to deprive them of that choice.

Biden said the Justice Department will make it illegal to manufacture a gun kit without serial numbers on each of the parts or for firearms dealers to sell them without a background check.

Some gun rights groups have pledged to challenge the new rules in court.

The president on Monday also announced his new nominee to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He has tapped former U.S. attorney Steve Dettlebach for the post.

Biden had to withdraw the nomination of his first ATF nominee, gun-control advocate David Chipman. His nomination stalled out after months of opposition from Republicans and some Democrats in the Senate.

Growing wave of violence in Middle East » A growing wave of violence has erupted in the West Bank. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man near Bethlehem on Sunday. The Israeli military said the man was throwing a firebomb at an Israeli vehicle driving on a West Bank highway

The unidentified man was the fourth Palestinian killed in a 24-hour span.

Ramadan this year converges with major Jewish and Christian holidays. Last year, protests and clashes in Jerusalem during Ramadan boiled over into an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza militants.

Israel has stepped up its military activity in the West Bank after Palestinian attackers killed 14 Israelis in four deadly attacks inside Israel in recent weeks.

At the same time, it has taken a series of steps to try to calm the situation. Those included granting Israeli work permits to thousands of Palestinians from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Gender ‘x’ option now available on U.S. passport applications » U.S. travelers can now officially select gender “x” on passport applications, rather than choosing male or female. The change took effect on Monday.

President Biden announced the change last month along with other transgender accommodations.

The TSA is also replacing what it called gender-based body scanning technology with new scanners.

Musk not joining Twitter » Elon Musk has changed his mind. He is not joining Twitter’s board of directors after all. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has that story.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: The billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX was awarded a seat on the board after buying a 9 percent stake in the company. And Twitter announced that he would soon join the board.

Musk then teased possible changes to Twitter, including the addition of an edit button and making the site ad-free. Nearly 90 percent of Twitter's revenue last year came from ads.

Musk has been critical of Twitter’s moves in the past, including its censorship policies.

Responding to news that Musk won’t join the board, Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal wrote in a note originally sent to Twitter employees—quote—“I believe this is for the best.”

Agrawal did not offer an explanation for Musk's decision.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

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

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.