Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
(Want to get this newsletter in your inbox? Here’s the sign-up.) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. President Vladimir Putin of Russia authorized extensive efforts to interfere in the U.S. election to hurt Joe Biden’s chances, according to a newly declassified intelligence report. The report determined that Russia mounted operations to influence people close to Donald Trump, pictured with Mr. Putin in 2017. It did not name the targets but seemed to refer to Rudolph Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, who relentlessly pushed allegations of corruption about Mr. Biden and his family. Unlike in 2016, there were no efforts by Russia or other countries to change actual ballots, the report found. China considered similar efforts, but concluded that such an operation would fail, the report found. The U.S. intelligence community also determined that Iran attempted to aid Mr. Biden in the final days of the election by spreading emails that falsely claimed to be from the far-right group the Proud Boys. 2. The U.S. expects more migrants at its southern border this year than at any time in the last two decades. Above, asylum seeking migrants in Penitas, Texas, this month. Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, cited poverty, high levels of violence, and corruption in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. The same factors have propelled migration to the U.S.-Mexico border for years, he said, but “the adverse conditions have continued to deteriorate.” More than 9,400 minors arrived along the border without parents in February — a nearly threefold increase from a year ago — and President Biden has faced intensifying criticism over their treatment. Lawyers say that some were left to sleep on gym mats with foil sheets, and confined to an overcrowded tent. Meanwhile, the Biden administration must decide what to do with Mr. Trump’s incomplete border wall. Critics want it torn down; Republicans want it finished. 3. The E.U.’s main drug regulator pushed back against doubts about the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. Emer Cooke, the head of the European Medicines Agency, said that regulators were still studying concerns about the possibility of rare side effects, but there was “no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions,” adding that the benefits outweigh the risks. The halting of the AstraZeneca vaccine by major European governments is weakening an already faltering rollout: No country in the E.U. is on pace to reach its goal of vaccinating 70 percent of its population by September. Thailand, Australia and India are still using the AstraZeneca vaccine as investigations continue.
