5 things to know for March 31: Ukraine, Abortion, Gas prices, Immigration, Iran

A number of state legislatures have superior payments proscribing abortion entry, including to a rising variety of GOP-led states seeking to chip away at abortion rights within the US. Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed a invoice that acts as a near-total ban on abortions within the state after 15 weeks. In Kentucky, the state’s Home and Senate have accredited an identical 15-week ban that additionally restricts entry to medicine abortion and makes it tougher for a minor to acquire an abortion within the state. In Idaho, abortion suppliers are asking the state’s supreme court docket to strike down the state’s new six-week abortion ban which mimics a controversial Texas legislation. That legislation additionally permits particular person residents to convey lawsuits towards medical professionals who carried out prohibited procedures.

President Joe Biden is contemplating releasing about 1 million barrels of oil per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to alleviate persistent excessive gasoline costs. Tapping the stockpile of 600 million barrels of crude oil, that are saved in underground salt caverns in Louisiana and Texas, in all probability will not have an enormous impact on gasoline costs due to limits on how a lot oil might be launched at a time. However it’s a political signal from Biden that he’s attempting to deal with the issue. The US worth of a gallon of standard gasoline spiked after Russia invaded Ukraine, hitting a report excessive of $4.33 earlier this month. The invasion has additionally snarled world provide chains that have been imagined to be recovering from pandemic-related woes. 

The Biden administration is planning to finish controversial Trump-era pandemic restrictions on the US-Mexico border by Could 23. The general public well being provision, often known as Title 42, has largely blocked migrants from getting into the US and has attracted the consternation of Democrats and immigration advocates who say there is no such thing as a scientific justification for the restriction. Nonetheless, the Biden administration has stored the measure in place. About 1.7 million migrants have been despatched again to Mexico or their nation of origin since March 2020, in accordance with US Customs and Border Safety knowledge. Homeland Safety Division officers are bracing for an inflow when the ban is lifted, with preparations being made for as much as 18,000 arrivals per day. 

The US Treasury Division has introduced new sanctions towards Iran’s ballistic missile program in response to a missile assault in Iraq earlier this month. It is one more setback for US efforts to reenter the Iran nuclear deal, often known as the Joint Complete Plan of Motion. A deal between the US and Iran appeared shut earlier this month. Hope has since waned due to excellent variations — together with Iran’s calls for relating to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a bunch focused by these new sanctions that’s accountable for analysis and improvement of ballistic missiles. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the US will work to discourage Iran’s nuclear functionality no matter whether or not a deal is reached. 

And the US viewing public will as soon as once more get to be obnoxious about soccer on the world stage. 

So long as there’s cake and a snug place to sit down, we’re good.

Two additional toes of observe imply a number of extra milliseconds of your life flashing earlier than your eyes. 

An viewers of excited, screaming followers would actually full the expertise.

Like sporting the best doughnut crumbs in your face, however in a socially acceptable means. 

That is the proportion of LGBTQ adults who determine as transgender. Immediately, March 31, is Worldwide Transgender Day of Visibility, a day for allies to indicate help for the transgender group and think about the state of trans illustration. This 12 months’s observance comes at an particularly necessary time for advocates and activists who’re combating towards rising numbers of anti-LGBTQ legal guidelines that particularly goal trans folks. 

Chris Rock, who publicly addressed the Oscars slapping incident for the primary time throughout a present in Boston final evening. The Academy of Movement Photos Arts and Sciences stated yesterday it has “initiated disciplinary proceedings” towards actor Will Smith, who struck Rock in the course of the broadcast after the comic informed a joke about Smith’s spouse, Jada Pinkett Smith. 

Get thee to New Jersey, the place a sandwich stuffed into the hollowed-out hull of a large pickle is simply ready to be devoured. (Click on right here to view)