Thursday, March 31 top stories
It is Thursday, March 31. Here are today’s top stories.
Biden to release oil to lower gas prices
President Biden will order the release of about 1 million barrels of oil per day from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the next six months. This is done with the goal to reduce gas prices, which have skyrocketed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began and the international sanctions against Russian oil caused fears of energy supply shortages. The White House said it also wants Congress to pressure U.S. oil and gas companies to produce oil or charge them if they are sitting on wells without producing anything.
Gender-neutral “X” passports
The White House announced today that U.S. citizens will be able to select “X” as their gender rather than only choosing “M” or “F.” This is for Americans who identify as nonbinary and gender-nonconforming (neither male nor female). The White House made this announcement today, on the Transgender Day of Visibility. President Biden said yesterday that he calls upon all Americans to work towards eliminating discrimination against all transgender people.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn rebuked
North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthron (R), who is the youngest member of Congress, said in an interview last week that he was shocked to see that many older people in Washington who he’s looked up to as role models in politics invite him to orgies or use cocaine in front of him. His comments stirred controversy among Republicans.
The House Republican leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, said he had a meeting with Cawthorn and told him that he’s lost his trust in him and that he can’t make statements like that as a member of Congress. McCarthy also said there’s no evidence behind Cawthorn’s statements.
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U.S. says Putin is being misled
U.S. intelligence officials said Russian President Putin is getting misinformation from his top aides about the military situation in Ukraine — that Putin doesn’t realize how badly Russian troops are doing in trying to take Kyiv. The officials said it shows that Putin’s aides are afraid to tell him the truth about the amount of Russian troop deaths or about the severe impacts on Russia’s economy from international sanctions.
In separate but related news, Kyiv is still being shelled by Russian forces. It was thought that Russia would scale back its attacks with an eye toward a cease-fire, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Ukrainian President Zelensky said he is doubtful that Russia would reduce its forces around Kyiv and that Russia is building up its forces in eastern Ukraine.
USMNT qualifies for World Cup
The U.S. Men’s National Team (soccer) has qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The U.S. will represent the CONCACAF with Canada and Mexico. The star player for the U.S. team is 23-year-old Christian Pulisic. The World Cup will take place this November and December.
Hubble spots farthest star ever seen
NASA said its Hubble Space Telescope has detected the light of a star that existed within the first billion years after the universe’s birth in the Big Bang, which is the farthest individual star ever seen to date. NASA said the light took almost 13 billion years to reach Earth. NASA explained that as the universe expands, light from distant objects is stretched into longer, redder wavelengths as it travels toward us. The telescope is able to detect the star thanks to the natural magnification created by clusters of galaxies. The star’s name is Earendel, which means “morning star” in Old English. Researchers believe this star was about 50 times the mass of our Sun and millions of times as bright.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/putin-russia-miliary-ukraine-misled/
https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4628810/united-states-to-2022-world-cup-in-qatar
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/record-broken-hubble-spots-farthest-star-ever-seen