Wednesday morning news: December 28, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Anna Johansen Brown. 

SCOTUS » The U.S. Supreme Court has extended a policy that will hold back a wave of migrants from crossing the U.S. border and applying for asylum.

Lieutenant Chris Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety reacted to the court’s temporary move:

OLIVAREZ: There’s no excuse for what’s taking place. It’s a self-inflicted crisis, a humanitarian crisis, a national security crisis, that the federal government has imposed, um, on our country.

The court’s decision involves Title 42, a policy aimed at stopping Covid spread. It allows immigration authorities to expel some migrants before they can apply for asylum.

Yesterday’s ruling extends Title 42 indefinitely, but it may not be the last word.

Immigration advocates have sued to end the Title 42 policy. The court will hear oral argument in the case in February.

President Biden was leaving for vacation when he told reporters his administration plans to comply.

BIDEN: The court is not going to decide until June, apparently, and, uh, in the meantime, we have to enforce it.

Southwest, southworst / Buffalo blizzard / Weather woes » Buffalo, New York, is still trying to dig itself out after a winter storm dumped six feet of snow in places.

WORLD’s Mary Muncy has more.

MARY MUNCY, REPORTER: With the severe-weather death toll now at more than 30 in Buffalo, officials have called for the National Guard and state police to enforce a driving ban.

Officials need people off the roads to clear the roads.

Buffalo police also deployed extra forces to try to stop looting. Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown.

BROWN: They’re just looting items that they want. So these aren’t even people in distress. These are just people taking advantage of a natural disaster.

Meanwhile, beleaguered Southwest Airlines will be cutting flights again today and through at least tomorrow, flight cancellations surpassed the 10,000-mark since last week.

The Department of Transportation called the airline’s delays unacceptable and said it would investigate.

For WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

Tik Tok sale talk » Congressional Republicans are pushing for a more aggressive posture toward the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok. Here’s U.S. Representative Nicole Malliotakis just days after Congress banned the app from government devices.

AUDIO: China is a great threat and we need to take it serious...

Now it appears the U.S. government is inching closer to taking more serious action on TikTok.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, an interagency government panel may recommend a forced sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations.

The paper quotes government sources saying that may be the only way to wall off the Chinese government from information about American users.

One worry, the paper says, is that such a forced sale may not hold up in U.S. courts.

Reportedly the panel’s been negotiating with TikTok for more than two years.

The White House declined any official comment on the story.

Taiwan servicemen » Citing threats from China, Taiwan is extending mandatory military service from four months to a full year starting in 2024.

China lays claim to the democratically ruled island and has increased pressure by sending fighter planes and navy vessels toward Taiwan almost every day.

Taiwan’s longer military service applies to men born after 2005 using a new training curriculum meant to strengthen the island’s reserve forces.

TSAI ING-WEN: [Mandarin]

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen says her country must strengthen defense to secure its national security interests.

Oil revenues Russia » PUTIN: [Russian] If prices on oil from Russia...

Russian President Vladimir Putin announcing he’ll refuse sales of oil to nations enforcing a price cap on Russian petroleum.

This month, western nations capped the price for Russian oil more than $20 a barrel below market to try to choke off revenues to finance Russia’s war.

The United States and other G-7 industrial nations, as well as the European Union and Australia, all took steps to block oil shipments at prices above the cap.

Putin’s retaliatory policy takes effect February first.

Afghanistan working women » The United Nations human rights chief has condemned the increasing restrictions on women’s rights in Afghanistan urging the Taliban rulers to reverse them immediately.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says a ban on women working for non-governmental charities could have dire humanitarian consequences.

The Afghanistan head for the Norwegian refugee council Neil Turner:

TURNER: We simply can’t work without our dedicated female staff, who are essential for us to be able to access women who are in desperate need of assistance.

He says the ban on women working could mean a shutdown of refugee operations in Afghanistan.

I’m Anna Johansen Brown. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.

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