Wednesday morning news - March 30, 2022

Biden is skeptical Russia is scaling back operations in Kyiv » President Biden says he’s skeptical about whether Russia will make good on its Tuesday announcement. Moscow said it will significantly scale back military operations near Ukraine’s capital and a northern city as peace talks continue.

Speaking at the White House, the president told reporters…

BIDEN: Let’s just see what they have to offer. We’ll find out what they do. But in the meantime, we’re going to continue to keep strong sanctions. We’re going to continue to provide the Ukrainian military with the capacity to defend themselves.

At peace talks in Istanbul, Ukraine said the country was prepared to declare itself neutral and its security would be guaranteed by an array of other nations.

Moscow's public reaction was positive, and the negotiations will likely resume this morning.

Amid the talks, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said Moscow has decided to—quote—“fundamentally ... cut back military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv” to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.” End quote.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said take it with a grain of salt.

KIRBY: The Russian Ministry of Defense’s latest talking points may be an effort to move the goal post, moderating Russia’s immediate goals and spinning apparent lack of progress as what would be next steps, but it’s too early to judge what additional actions the Kremlin may take.

Kirby said this does not mean the threat to Kyiv is over.

While Moscow portrayed it as a goodwill gesture, its ground troops have become bogged down and taken heavy losses in their bid to seize Kyiv and other cities.

President Biden defends Putin power remarks » Meantime, the blowback continues over President Biden’s remarks in Poland over the weekend. During an impassioned speech, Biden said Vladimir Putin cannot be allowed to remain in power.

The White House quickly walked back the unscripted remark, seemingly suggesting he didn’t mean what he said.

But the president told reporters…

BIDEN: Number one, I’m not walking anything back. The fact of the matter is, I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward the way Putin is dealing and the actions of this man …

But he clarified that he was expressing his personal feelings and his comments do not reflect a policy shift on regime change.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Tuesday…

MCCONNELL: The wild swings between the administration’s overly cautious, almost skittish official posture and the president’s emotional freelancing is becoming dizzying.

McConnell and many other Republicans are calling on the White House to take stronger action in Ukraine.

U.S. job openings, quitting at near record high in February »Employers hung ‘help wanted’ signs in the window at a near-record level again in February. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The Labor Dept. says employers posted 11.3 million job openings last month. That matched January's figure and was only slightly below December's record of 11.4 million.

The number of Americans quitting their jobs was also historically high, at 4.4 million, up from 4.3 million in January.

More than four-and-a-half million people quit in November, the most on records dating back two decades.

The vast majority of those quitting do so to take another position.

Tuesday’s report is separate from the government’s monthly employment report. In February, it showed employers added nearly 700,000 jobs.

Analysts say the high number of job openings and quits are helping to fuel rampaging inflation. That’s because many companies have had to raise pay to attract and keep workers.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

FDA OKs another COVID booster for 50 and up » People aged 50 and older will likely be able to get another COVID-19 shot very soon. The FDA on Tuesday gave the green light for a second vaccine booster. The CDC still has to sign off on the move before it’s official.

Until now, the FDA had cleared fourth doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines only for people with severely weakened immune systems.

While the agency is authorizing a second booster, it’s not yet recommending it for everyone over age 49.

FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said Tuesday…

MARKS: The good news is that for most people who have been vaccinated and had one boosted, your original booster shot is continuing to provide you with good protection from being hospitalized or dying.

The authorization offers extra protection for the most vulnerable in case the virus rebounds.

He said the FDA might need to urge Americans to get a fourth shot in the fall.

MARKS: Because we may need to shift over to a different variant coverage.

That would be a booster that is specific to a particular strain.

An omicron subvariant, BA.2, just became the dominant strain in the United States. That strain has caused surges in other countries, but experts do not necessarily expect that to happen here.

South Korea says North lied about ICBM launch » South Korea on Tuesday said North Korea was lying when it said it launched a newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile last week. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has that story.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: South Korean officials say the North actually fired off a less-powerful missile last Thursday than it claimed.

Pyongyang said it launched a Hwasong-17 missile, its longest-range ICBM to date.

Its state media called the launch “a historical event” and released a stylized Hollywood-style video. It showed leader Kim Jong Un in sunglasses and a leather jacket, supervising the launch.

But South Korea’s Defense Ministry now says the North didn’t fire a Hwasong-17, but a Hwasong-15. That’s a missile the country successfully tested five years ago.

Both missiles are potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. But the Hwasong-17 can travel farther, it may be able to carry multiple nuclear warheads, and better evade missile defenses.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

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.