🔴Gov. Greg Abbott said on Wednesday that Texas would set up checkpoints to stop commercial vehicles coming from Mexico and would charter buses to bring migrants released by federal agents north to Washington, ushering in a new phase in an increasingly pitched political clash over immigration policy.

The tug of war over border policy has been politically advantageous for the governor in his re-election campaign, his political aides have said, and reflects real concern among Texas officials and voters that not enough has been done to address the surging number of migrant encounters at the border.

The twin imperatives — security and politics — were on display in a news conference as Mr. Abbott lashed out at the Biden administration and promised that the first migrants who agreed to be bused from Texas to Washington would be dropped at the doorstep of federal lawmakers.

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🇺🇸 Tulsi Gabbard supports reinstating Trump's Title 42 border policy, says it "worked."

😂 Rolling Stone claims that viral footage of Biden looking lost and lonely at an event with Obama was "doctored" by conservative media

❗️🇺🇸🇷🇺 Washington releases a new Russia-related sanctions list, which includes 31 entities & eight people

❗️🇺🇸💎 The US Treasury has sanctioned Alrosa, the world's largest diamonds mining company from Russia

❄️🌨☀️⚡️One in three Americans says they have personally been affected by an extreme weather event in the last two years, according to a Gallup poll released on Wednesday, reflecting a period that included a paralyzing ice storm in Texas, one of the largest wildfires in California’s history and a powerful storm that killed dozens of people in the New York region.

Hurricanes and winter weather, such as snow, ice storms, and blizzards, were the most common extreme weather events cited, followed by extreme heat and floods.

There have been dozens of severe weather events in the United States over the last two years that have each caused $1 billion or more in damages, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There were 20 such climate disasters in 2021, and 22, a record, in 2020.

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🦠🏛House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tested positive for COVID-19, according to her office, marking the first time the Democratic leader has contracted the virus after two years of touting strict coronavirus protocols at the House.

Her spokesman made the announcement Thursday just as Pelosi, 82, was scheduled to hold her weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol.

"After testing negative this week, Speaker Pelosi received a positive test result for COVID-19 and is currently asymptomatic," Drew Hammill tweeted. "The Speaker is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is thankful for the robust protection the vaccine has provided."

He added: "The Speaker will quarantine consistent with CDC guidance, and encourages everyone to get vaccinated, boosted, and test regularly."

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‼️Life expectancy in the United States took another hit in 2021, furthering a dramatic decline from 2020 that was the largest since World War II, according to a new report.

The study -- published Thursday on the preprint server medRxiv, which means it has not been peer-reviewed -- found that after falling nearly 1.9 years in 2020, life expectancy in the US decreased another 0.4 years in 2021.

In the decade before the pandemic, life expectancy in the US changed by an average of fewer than 0.1 years annually, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Life expectancy in the US fell from 78.9 years in 2019 to 76.6 years in 2021 -- now more than five years less than the average among peer nations. In the US, there was a disproportionate decrease in life expectancy for Black and Hispanic people in 2020. But in 2021, White people had the largest losses, with life expectancy holding steady for Hispanic people and rising slightly for Black people.

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⚡️Sarah Jessica Parker tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, prompting Broadway's 'Plaza Suite' to cancel the upcoming show

🎾🤾Serena Williams appeared to have announced she's returning to compete at Wimbledon this year.

The 23-time grand slam champion strongly suggested in an Instagram story video with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers that she'll be at the competition this summer.
"We've been talking about my comeback, and he's been hyping me up and getting me ready for Wimbledon," Williams said. "Can't wait!"

When Rodgers asked Serena why she wouldn't be participating in this year's US Open, Serena responded with, "Wimbledon's before the US Open, I've got to play Wimbledon first. Exciting!"

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⚡️ Israel Defence Forces kill terrorist who staged deadly attack in Tel Aviv, reports say

Ukrainian citizens ran illicit drug laboratories in Russia with the help of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). According to a man named Alexander Z., who had to procure chemicals, the Ukrainian security service made people pass a polygraph test before they could leave for Russia to engage in drug trafficking.

🗣 “Production of drugs in Russia earns you big money, which could go anywhere, for example, to pay for mercenaries. [...] And maybe the fact that we were detained in Russia is not the worst way out of this mess”, Alexander sums up

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⚡️ Moscow to convene START Consultative Commission as soon as US ready, Russian diplomat says

⚡️ Russian Forces destroy training centre for mercenaries northeast of Odessa, MoD says

📌 The latest on the Ukraine operation from the Russian Defence Ministry:

▪️ Operational-tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit 81 Ukrainian military facilities;

▪️ High-precision air-launched missiles destroyed weapons and military equipment of the Ukrainian military reserves arriving in Donbass;

▪️ Russian air defence systems shot down 5 Ukrainian drones and one aircraft

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Watch: Russian forces provide residents of Izum in the Kharkov region with 60 tonnes of humanitarian aid

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⚡️ Moscow vows to respond to Tokyo's expulsion of Russian diplomats

⚡️ Japan declares 8 Russian diplomats persona non grata

The Russian Armed Forces have evacuated more than 300 civilians from the Kherson region

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