Tuesday morning news - March 29, 2022

KENT COVINGTON: Ukraine-Russia peace talks resume in Turkey » Diplomats from Ukraine and Russia met in Turkey on Monday starting a new round of negotiations … that as the United Nations renewed its push for peace. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

GUTERRES: I am therefore appealing for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to allow for progress in serious political negotiations aiming at achieving a peace agreement.

But for now, the peace talks are taking place as bombs continue to fall.

In an overnight video address to his nation, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is seeking peace “without delay.”

Zelenskyy says he will consider a compromise on contested areas in the country’s east … and he’s prepared to declare Ukraine’s neutrality. Russia has long demanded that Ukraine drop any hope of joining the Western NATO alliance.

But Zelenskyy also stressed that his priority is to ensure his country’s sovereignty … and to prevent Russia from carving up the country and redrawing its borders.

Ukraine refugees near 4 million » Meantime, many Ukrainians continue to surge over the border into neighboring European countries. Almost 4 million people have now fled Ukraine.

A 31-year-old refugee, Alina Beskrovna, said life in her hometown of Mariupol became unbearable.

BESKROVNA: There’s no gas, no electricity, no heating, no cell phone service. We melt snow to have at least something to drink. We cook on open fires under shelling and bombs.

European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said the total exodus now stands at 3.87 million, and half of the refugees are children.

JOHANSSON: Those that are doing the most right now is, of course, Poland, which is hosting more than 1.5 million refugees right now. Of course the other neighboring countries: Romania, Hungary, Slovakia.

She said Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, and Lithuania are also taking in large numbers of refugees.

Biden unveils budget, calling for higher taxes, greater spending » President Biden unveiled his budget blueprint on Monday. It calls for higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy … and more spending on his domestic priorities and on defense.

BIDEN: The budget I’m releasing today sends a clear message to the American people what we value. First, fiscal responsibility; second, safety and security; and thirdly, the investments needed to build a better America.

Biden is proposing a total of $5.8 trillion in federal spending in fiscal 2023.

That would generate a budget deficit of more than a trillion dollars. But the president insists it’s still fiscally responsible because that would be lower than recent deficits.

His budget includes nearly $800 billion for defense, and just over $900 billion for domestic programs. The balance would go to mandatory spending on things like entitlement programs and interest on the national debt.

The proposal includes a top individual tax rate of nearly 40 percent, but he pledged …

BIDEN: Under my plan, as I said, no one making less than $400,000 a year will pay an additional single penny in taxes.

But it also includes a higher corporate tax rate of 28 percent. And critics say consumers ultimately pay corporate taxes in the form of higher prices. 

Justice Thomas joins arguments by phone after hospital stay » Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas participated in arguments by telephone on Monday following a hospital stay of nearly a week.

Chief Justice John Roberts said at the beginning of arguments that Thomas would be “participating remotely this morning," but did not say why.

Thomas' voice was clear when he asked several questions during arguments.

Thomas missed all three days of arguments last week while he was hospitalized.

The 73-year-old justice was admitted to the hospital March 18 after experiencing “flu-like symptoms. ” He tested negative for COVID-19 … but was treated for an infection with intravenous antibiotics.

Reporter still detained in Ethiopia » Lawmakers are joining calls for the release of a journalist being in Ethiopia without charges. WORLD’s Anna Johanson Brown has more.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff and Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon joined those demanding release of Amir Aman Kiyaro. He is a freelance video journalist for the Associated Press, now behind bars in Ethiopia.

Authorities there arrested Kiyaro and local journalist Thomas Engida in November in Addis Ababa. Police told state media the journalists violated the war-related state of emergency law and an anti-terrorism law. That could lead to sentences of seven to 15 years if convicted.

Authorities claim Kiyaro served a terrorist organization’s purposes by interviewing a member. But the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Ethiopia, says journalists should not be imprisoned for interviewing sources classified as terrorists.

A court is scheduled to review Kiyaro’s case today, and the state must then either formally charge or release him.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johanson Brown. 

I'm Kent Covington.

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