Today’s Headlines and Commentary

Suicide bombers attacked a Shiite mosque in Kandahar, Afghanistan during Friday prayers, according to NBC News. The blasts killed at least 33 people and wounded 73 others. The explosion came only a week after a similar attack killed dozens of Shiite worshippers at a mosque. The Taliban adheres to Sunni Islam but has pledged to protect all ethnic and sectarian groups since coming into power.

The Biden administration announced Thursday that it will start returning asylum-seekers to Mexico next month under a Trump-era border policy if the Mexican government agrees to accept the returnees, says the Washington Post. In August, the U.S. District Court in Texas ordered the Biden administration to reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” program, a policy the president had previously denounced. Biden is working on several changes to the program, such as complete asylum case processing within six months.

President Biden announced on Thursday the United States will donate more than 17 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine to the African Union, reports NPR. Biden made the announcement when he met with President Uhuru Kenyatta of the Republic of Kenya. The donation comes after the World Health Organization said last month that Africa needs almost 500 million more doses to reach its goal of vaccinating 40 percent of people on the continent by the end of 2021.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Chuck Grassley, said Thursday they would soon introduce a major antitrust bill targeting Big Tech companies, according to Reuters. The bill would prohibit online platforms such as Amazon and Google from favoring their products and services.

The U.K. Health Security Agency said Friday that 43,000 people in southwest England may have incorrectly received negative PCR test results from a coronavirus testing laboratory in Wolverhampton, reports Reuters. This mistake could have resulted in underestimation of the number of people with coronavirus between Sept 8. and Oct. 12., which some scientists say could have contributed to the spread of cases.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Evelyn Douek and Quinta Jurecic speak with Jeff Kosseff about the importance of online anonymity, tech reforms and Section 230 reform.

Jacob Berntsson and Maygane Janin covered how the surge of internet regulation to combat terrorism and other harmful content poses a risk to freedom of expression online.

Brian Liu and Raquel Leslie discussed Beijing’s crackdown on Big Tech and new Chinese government artificial intelligence and algorithm standards in the most recent edition of Sinotech, Lawfare’s biweekly roundup of U.S.-China technology policy news.

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