Top eight today

Top eight stories for today including hopes for a ceasefire in Ukraine were dashed as bloody fighting continued; The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of a cruise company fighting a California worker protection law; President Biden urged lawmakers to allocate more funding for the fight against Covid-19, and more.

National

Biden urges Congress to pass Covid funding as money for federal programs runs dry

President Joe Biden on Wednesday urged lawmakers to allocate funding for the fight against Covid-19, warning that a failure to do so would put the country’s pandemic progress on the line.

President Joe Biden receives his second Covid-19 booster shot in the White House’s South Court Auditorium on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Alex Jones to rack up escalating fines until he appears for deposition

A judge presiding over the defamation case brought by families of Sandy Hook shooting victims against Alex Jones has imposed a series of escalating fines to compel the conspiracy theorist and radio host to sit for a deposition.

Conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones speaks from his studio in Austin, Texas, on March 22, 2022. (Image via Courthouse News)

Regional

Justices wary of challenge to law protecting California workers

The Supreme Court pressed a cruise company fighting a California worker protection law on Wednesday over what some justices called a double standard in the company’s stance on enforcing arbitration agreements.

The Supreme Court is seen on what is its first day of the new term, Oct. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Ninth Circuit won’t impose health measures on pest-prone jail kitchen

Despite alarming reports of pest invasions and contaminated food, a Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday refused to impose stricter health and safety requirements at an industrial kitchen in one of the nation’s largest jails.

Photo by (Jesstess87, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

International

Ukraine ceasefire hopes dashed, fighting remains intense

Hopes for a ceasefire anytime soon in Ukraine were dashed on Wednesday as bloody fighting and the shelling of civilians continued and Moscow and Kyiv backed away from a tentative ceasefire deal that emerged the day before in Istanbul.

An apartment building damaged by shelling is seen in Chernihiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, March 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Yuriy Vasilenko)

Defense team in MH17 trial seeks full acquittal

Defense lawyers for a man accused of supplying the surface-to-air missile that shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 want their client to be acquitted, claiming the prosecution has had “tunnel vision” in the case.

Australian and Dutch investigators examine a piece of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 near the village of Hrabove, Ukraine, in 2014. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky, File)

EU court splits on air cargo cartel fine

The European Union’s second-highest court split Wednesday over an appeal from a group of cargo airlines over a 2010 fine for price-fixing.

A KLM passenger plane approaches for landing at Lisbon Airport on Aug. 21, 2019. (Armando Franca/AP)

Eurostat: Immigrants make up 9% of EU population

Five percent of the European Union population — 23.7 million people — are third-country nationals, according to data published by Eurostat on Wednesday. An additional 4% are citizens of EU countries other than the one in which they reside.

This infographic from the European Union's statistics agency Eurostat shows the share of non-nationals in the populations of each of the bloc's 27 member states. Figures include the percentage of citizens from other EU states and third-country nationals.

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