Wednesday morning news - February 2, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Putin signals willingness to continue diplomatic talks » Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused the United States and its allies of ignoring Russia’s top security demands.

PUTIN: [Speaking in Russian]

But he said Moscow is willing to continue talks to ease tensions over Ukraine.

It was the first time in more than a month that Putin himself has signaled that an invasion might not be imminent and diplomacy may continue.

But neither side is budging on Russia’s key demands including that Ukraine be barred from ever joining NATO.

And White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Moscow continues to pretend that it’s Russia’s security, not Ukraine’s, that is under threat.

PSAKI: When the fox is screaming from the top of the hen house that he’s scared of the chickens, which is essentially what they’re doing, that fear isn’t recorded as a statement of fact.

But the Biden administration says it does welcome more diplomatic talks. The United States has proposed negotiations on lesser Russian demands.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are expected to speak again soon. And the White House says direct talks between President Biden and Vladimir Putin are also possible.

FBI chief Wray: China still engaged in large-scale hacking operations targeting U.S. tech » The threat to the West from the Chinese government is “more brazen” and damaging than ever before. That’s the word from FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Speaking at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library this week, Wray said that even as Russia-Ukraine tensions dominate headlines, China remains the biggest threat to U.S. interests by stealing U.S. innovation.

WRAY: The Chinese government steals staggering volumes of information and causes deep, job-destroying damage across a wide range of industries.

In 2015, the United States and China announced a deal at the White House to not steal each other's intellectual property or trade secrets for commercial gain. But that agreement appears to be worth little more than the paper it's printed on.

Wray said the FBI has more than 2,000 open investigations into Chinese efforts to steal American information or technology.

WRAY: The harm from the Chinese government’s economic espionage isn’t just that its companies pull ahead based on illegally gotten technology. While they pull ahead, they push our companies and workers behind.

He said the bureau is opening new cases to counter Chinese intel operations every 12 hours or so. And he added that the communist government is pilfering more personal and corporate data than all other countries combined.

Pfizer asking US to approve vaccines for kids under 5 » Drugmaker Pfizer is applying for emergency authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5 years old. And a vaccine for young children could be ready by the end of this month. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The FDA wants Pfizer to seek authorization for a two-dose course for young kids while awaiting data on a three-dose course. And the company is expected to submit that application very soon.

Young kids would receive the vaccine at one-tenth the strength of the adult shot. Early Pfizer data has shown the shots to be safe and to produce an immune response.

But last year Pfizer announced the two-dose shot proved to be less effective at preventing COVID-19 in kids ages 2-5. That was partly due to the more contagious omicron strain. But regulators urged the company to add a third dose to the study.

The FDA authorized vaccines for kids ages 5 to 12 in November.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Job openings rose in December amid worker shortages » U.S. employers stepped up their hunt for workers in December despite the impact of the omicron wave.

The Labor Department says the number of posted jobs rose to 10.9 million on the last day of December. That was up 1.4 percent compared with the previous month.

Companies were still desperate to hire workers last month yet had trouble finding enough people to fill the open jobs. There were approximately 1.6 available jobs for every person actively seeking work that month.

Even so, most economists expect that job gains likely took a hit in January, as the omicron surge sickened millions of workers.

Authorities order national lockdown of federal prisons » Authorities have placed federal prisons on a nationwide lockdown. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: The Justice Department ordered the lockdown at more than 120 facilities. That after two inmates died in an altercation involving the violent MS-13 gang at a Texas prison on Monday.

Officials were worried about possible retaliation that could even spread to other facilities.

Nationwide lockdowns are not common. Authorities took that step last January after the Capitol riot. They also gave the order in spring of 2020 at the height of the pandemic to curb the spread of the virus.

The Bureau of Prisons has come under scrutiny in recent months after several inmate deaths. The Justice Department recently announced that the bureau’s director, Michael Carvajal, is resigning in the wake of a report from the Associated Press. That report detailed alleged corruption and misconduct within the agency.

Federal prisons are also suffering the nationwide shortage of workers.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

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

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