Today’s Headlines and Commentary

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy announced that approximately 60 people were killed by a bomb at a school in the Luhansk region in Ukraine, reports BBC News. According to the region’s governor Serhiy Haidai, 90 people had been using the building as shelter during Russian attacks. Prior to the bombing on Saturday, humanitarian groups were able to evacuate 30 civilians. Ukrainian forces are still sifting through the rubble of the destroyed building, but suspect that the remaining individuals in the building perished in the attack. 

The Biden administration is working on plans to reopen the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, writes Axios. According to an anonymous State Department senior official, Secretary of State Anotny Blinken told the Ukrainian foreign minister that the accelerated plans to reopen the embassy are a “testament to Ukraine's success [and] Moscow's failure" during Russia’s war on Ukraine. State Department officials are reportedly aiming to have U.S. diplomats return to Kyiv at the earliest date possible. 

The Treasury Department announced sanctions on a cryptocurrency tool used by North Korea, according to the Hill. Blender.io is a cryptocurrency “mixer” software that works to hide the source of cryptocurrency online by exchanging it for an equal amount of random currencies. The Lazarus Group—North Korea’s cyber operations unit—allegedly used Blender.io to steal $620 million and launder over $20 million in stolen virtual funds. This is the first time that the Treasury Department has sanctioned a virtual currency mixer. 

The Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein won the largest number of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly for the first time in history, reports AP. Sinn Fein overtook the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland’s 90-member national assembly, winning 27 seats while the DUP only won 24. Sinn Fein is now the largest party in the assembly, which grants its members the right to nominate a first minister. 

Ferdinand Marcos Jr.—son of the ousted Filipino dictator—is projected to win the the presidential election in the Philippines, writes the New York Times. According to data released by the Filipino government, Marcos Jr. is leading his opponent, Vice President Leni Robredo, by almost double—with 27 million votes in his favor at 84 percent of election returns in a preliminary count. When polls closed in the Philippines on Monday evening, reports of irregularities at polling places popped up across the country. Citizens reported issues such as malfunctioning voting machines, insufficient numbers of backup machines, complaints that voters had been left off registration rolls and claims of ballot tampering. 

A data analysis by Everytown for Gun Safety and verified by NBC news indicates an upward trend in guns being stolen out of vehicles in multiple U.S. cities. The study analyzed FBI crime data from 2011 to 2020 in 271 “small-to-large” cities across 38 states, and found that gun thefts from cars have more than tripled in a decade. The analysis also found that from 2019 to 2020, at least 181 cities experienced an increase in gun thefts from vehicles, which now makes up the largest source of stolen guns. Analysts suspect that the rise in gun thefts from vehicles is connected to the upward trend in shootings nationwide. 

ICYMI: This Weekend on Lawfare

Jonathan Schroden discussed new approaches for counterterrorism in Afghanistan. 

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