Wednesday morning news - December 8, 2021

Biden-Putin face off as tension grows on Ukraine border » President Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin faced one another in a virtual summit, speaking by video on Tuesday.

AUDIO: Hello [Russian response]. Good to see you again. Last time we didn’t get to see one other at the G20. I hope next time we meet we do it in person.

The 2-hour meeting came amid rising tensions over a massive buildup of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border.

And National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that President Biden issued a warning to Putin.

SULLIVAN: He told President Putin directly that if Russia further invades Ukraine, the United States and our European allies would respond with strong economic measures.

Earlier Tuesday, Ukrainian officials charged that Russia was continuing to escalate the crisis, sending tanks and snipers to war-torn eastern Ukraine.

Biden was vice president in 2014 when Russian troops marched into the peninsula of Crimea and annexed the territory from Ukraine. Aides say the Crimea episode looms large as Biden monitors the current crisis.

Putin, for his part, was expected to demand guarantees from Biden that the NATO military alliance will never expand to include Ukraine. But that's a non-starter in Washington and in Europe.

Biden’s vaccine mandates take another legal hit » President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates took another legal hit on Tuesday. WORLD’s Leigh Jones has more.

LEIGH JONES, REPORTER: U.S. District Judge R. Stan Baker temporarily halted the mandate for federal contractors while legal challenges wind through the courts.

Companies that contract with the U.S. government had until Jan. 4th to fully vaccinate all employees.

Another judge froze the mandate in three states, but Baker’s motion expands it nationwide.

The Biden administration has said mandates are vital to curb the spread of the virus. But Baker said that argument does not override constitutional concerns. He wrote, “even in times of crisis this Court must preserve the rule of law.”

He added that the mandate is expensive, hard to implement, and might cause further worker shortages.

Courts have also frozen the president’s national mandate for private companies with at least 100 employees, as legal battles play out.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leigh Jones.

Pfizer CEO: omicron may be milder, but faster spread may spawn more mutations » Many health officials are still encouraging Americans to get vaccinated or boosted.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Tuesday that the omicron variant does appear to be milder but highly infectious.

Some say that may be a good thing, leading to more widespread natural immunity with a lesser risk of severe illness. But speaking at a Wall Street Journal summit, Bourla disagreed.

BOURLA: I don’t think it’s good news to have something spreads fast. Spreads fast means it will be billions of people and another mutation may come. You don’t want that.

Officials in South Africa reported Saturday that most COVID patients admitted to a hospital near Johannesburg did not need supplemental oxygen.

Omicron is spreading to more U.S. states, but for now, the delta variant remains the biggest menace, straining hospitals in some areas. After dipping last month, the delta wave is back on the rise. New U.S. cases have surged more than 60 percent over the past week.

White House defends diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Games » The White House on Tuesday defended its diplomatic boycott of next year’s Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

China accused the United States of violating the Olympic spirit. A Foreign Ministry spokesman lashed out, saying Washington is acting “out of ideological prejudice ... based on lies and rumors.”

But White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the boycott against the People’s Republic of China—PRC for short—is justified...

PSAKI: Given the PRC’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xianjang and other human right’s abuses.

But some say the move did not go far enough. Many rights groups have pushed for a full-blown boycott of the Games, but Psaki explained...

PSAKI: I don’t think that we felt it was the right step to penalize athletes who have been training, preparing for this moment.

She said the administration believes that the diplomatic boycott sends a clear message.

Whistleblower: As Afghanistan fell, UK abandoned supporters » A whistleblower who previously worked with the U.K.’s Foreign Office is accusing the British government of abandoning allies in Afghanistan. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: Former British diplomat Raphael Marshall faced members of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday.

He told lawmakers that top officials at the U.K. Foreign Office ignored pleas for help. Marshall said he monitored an email inbox flooded with thousands of emails from desperate Afghans in August as British and U.S. troops left Afghanistan and the Taliban took over.

Marshall claims most of these emails were left unanswered. And he said that only 5 percent of up to 150,000 Afghan nationals who applied were able to flee.

Former Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who was demoted to justice secretary after the crisis, pushed back. He said the reports ignore how complex the crisis was and how quickly the Taliban took control of Kabul.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

I’m Kent Covington.

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