10 things you need to know today: March 30, 2023

1. Senate votes to repeal Iraq war authorizations

The Senate on Wednesday voted to repeal congressional authorization for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The bipartisan resolution also withdrew authorization for the 1991 Gulf War. The vote seeks to return a basic war power to Congress and close a chapter on an invasion many lawmakers now consider a mistake. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians died in years of fighting, as did nearly 5,000 U.S. troops, after then-President George W. Bush's administration made false claims that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was hiding a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. If the House passes the resolution, it won't affect any current deployments but will take back power over military strikes and deployments that Congress had given to the White House.

The Associated Press

2. Mexico investigates deadly migrant center fire as homicide

Authorities in Mexico are investigating the deaths of at least 39 migrants in a fire at a Mexican immigration detention center near the U.S. border as a homicide, said Sara Irene Herrerias, a prosecutor specializing in human rights. "None of the public servants or the private security personnel took any action to open the door for the migrants who were inside," she told reporters. The officials in charge of the Ciudad Juarez facility — including two federal agents, a state immigration official, and five people employed by a private security company — came under scrutiny after video surveillance footage showed them leaving as the fire engulfed a locked, overcrowded cell with dozens of men, mostly from Central America and Venezuela, trapped inside.

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The Guardian

3. Kentucky lawmakers override veto of ban on youth transgender care

Republican lawmakers in Kentucky overrode Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's veto of a bill banning gender-affirming health care for young transgender people. The bill also regulates the lives of transgender youths in other ways, including stipulating the bathrooms they are required to use. Both chambers have Republican supermajorities, and the votes weren't close. Republicans denounced Beshear's veto, calling him a tool of the far-left who is out of touch with Kentuckians. Opponents of the bill have called it the most "extreme" anti-LGBTQ legislation in the country, and threatened to challenge it in court. Transgender-rights advocates and transgender teens demonstrated outside Kentucky's Capitol before the vote, holding up signs with slogans like "Our blood is on your hands."

Lexington Herald-Leader

4. East European leaders urge social media leaders to fight misinformation

The prime ministers of eight European countries signed an open letter released Wednesday calling for social media executives to intensify efforts to prevent the use of their platforms to spread "disinformation that undermines our peace and stability" and attempts "to weaken our support to Ukraine amid Russia's war of aggression." The letter — signed by the leaders of Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia — says that "hostile foreign powers" use social media platforms "to spread false narratives that contradict reporting from fact-based news outlets," as well as "to call for social unrest, bring violence to the streets, and destabilize governments." Facebook's Meta said it's already "taking significant steps" to stamp out misinformation about the Ukraine war.

The New York Times

5. Pope Francis hospitalized for lung infection

Pope Francis was hospitalized for treatment of a lung infection on Wednesday after having difficulty breathing in recent days, the Vatican said. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope, 86, does not have COVID-19, and is expected to stay in the hospital "a few days." Pope Francis has been missing part of a lung since undergoing surgery as a young man. Shortly before seeking treatment, Francis gave his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square. He has recently appeared frail, and has been using a wheelchair due to knee pain. Last year he acknowledged that his age and health posed limitations, and raised the possibility he might one day step aside. "It is possible to change pope," he said.

The Washington Post

6. Taiwan's president makes stopover in U.S. despite China warning

Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen, stopped in the United States on the way to Central America as part of a tour to shore up diplomatic support, angering China and prompting a warning against any meetings between Tsai and U.S. officials. "External pressure will not hinder our determination to go to the world," Tsai said before leaving Taipei. "We are calm and confident, will neither yield nor provoke." The trip comes after Honduras, long one of the few countries still recognizing Taiwan's sovereignty, switched diplomatic ties to Beijing, which considers Taiwan a renegade province and refuses to maintain diplomatic relations with any nation that recognizes the island. Tsai is heading next to Belize and Guatemala, two of the 13 remaining nations with formal relations with Taiwan.

NPR

7. Russia detains WSJ correspondent on spying allegations

Russia said Thursday it has detained Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges. Russia's Federal Security Service, which is known by the Russian acronym FSB and is the successor of the Soviet-era KGB, claimed that "on the instructions of the United States, he was collecting information about one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex, which constitute a state secret," Russian state-run media reported. Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural Mountains about 900 miles east of Moscow. The Journal said in a statement it "vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release" of Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, adding that the newspaper is "deeply concerned" for the reporter's safety.

The New York Times The Wall Street Journal

8. North Carolina lawmakers override veto, repeal gun permit requirement

North Carolina's state legislature voted Wednesday to override Gov. Roy Cooper's (D) veto and repeal a state requirement for gun buyers to get a permit from a local sheriff. The bill passed in the state House 71 to 46, along party lines. It had already cleared the state Senate 30 to 19, with margins big enough in both chambers to override Cooper for the first time since 2018. The repeal took effect immediately. The change will also allow guns on some school properties where religious services are held. In a statement, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stien (D) called the override a mistake that will put the public at risk.

The News & Observer

9. FDA approves overdose-reversing Narcan for over-the-counter sale

The Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that it has approved the drug Narcan, a nasal spray that reverses opioid overdoses, for sale without a prescription. Public health officials have long urged the government to make Narcan — the brand name for the drug naloxone — more widely available to help save lives as the nation continues to struggle with an opioid epidemic that has killed 100,000 people each of the last two years. Emergent BioSolutions, which produces Narcan, said it hoped to make Narcan available in stores and online retailers by late summer. It didn't immediately say how much over-the-counter Narcan will cost.

NPR The Guardian

10. Nashville vigil honors victims of Covenant School shooting

Hundreds of people attended a candlelight vigil Wednesday night at Nashville's Public Square Park to honor the six people killed in this week's Covenant School shooting. First lady Jill Biden attended the vigil as speakers called for the community to support the families of the victims. A lone shooter shot and killed 9-year-old Covenant School students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, and three adults: school headmaster Katherine Koonce, 60, substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61, and long-time custodian Mike Hill, 61. "To the parents, the friends, the families of those we lost, you are not alone," Nashville Mayor John Cooper said. "A grieving city joins you. A grieving country."

The Tennessean Chicago Tribune