Brief News
Portugal offer to Ukraine – Protection for 29,061
Portugal has so far accepted more than 29,000 requests for temporary protection from people fleeing the war in Ukraine, according to the latest update by SEF, the Immigration and Borders Service.
According to SEF, among the Ukrainian refugees who arrived in Portugal and beneficiaries of temporary protection, 10,230 are minors, representing about 35%. Of the 29,061 requests, SEF has issued 11,400 certificates granting a residence permit under the temporary protection regime.
This certificate, issued after the SNS, social security and tax authority have assigned the respective numbers, is necessary for refugees to start working and access support. SEF has also an “online” platform, in three languages, for requests for temporary protection for Ukrainian residents.
FBI arrest – Impersonating Agents
In an extraordinary case, the FBI arrested two men in Washington for allegedly impersonating Department of Homeland Security agents for more than two years. The men allegedly gave expensive gifts to real federal agents, including apartment leases, surveillance systems, a drone, a flat-screen TV and a generator. In another twist, one of the defendants is alleged to have offered to buy a weapon for a Secret Service agent assigned to protect first lady Jill Biden.
This all only came to light after the two men were interviewed as witnesses by a US postal inspector investigating an alleged assault on a mail deliverer. There were no immediate details on the motives for this extraordinary scheme.
Gridiron Dinner – Positive Covid-19 tests
More than a dozen positive Covid-19 tests came out of one of the most inside Washington events, the closed-door Gridiron Dinner last weekend. Those who were at the big night out and tested positive include Attorney General Merrick Garland and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
And in another sign that Covid is sweeping through the capital, Pelosi’s office said that the House speaker has also tested positive. The 82-year-old is currently asymptomatic and is fully vaccinated and boosted.
Her case will renew concern about the virus getting closer to Biden, following a flurry of cases among White House staff. Pelosi was with the President as recently as last Wednesday for a bill signing and stood at his right elbow. But the White House said Pelosi was not considered a close contact of the President because their encounter was fleeting. The commander in chief, who has had his second booster, tested negative the same Wednesday night.
Donald Trump – “massive election fraud”
The ex-President said the Secret Service did not allow him to march to the Capitol on that day with his supporters. And he repeatedly blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the violence, even though she is not responsible for security at the Capitol, or the Trump supporters who stormed it.
Trump also expanded on the flagrant lies about a stolen election, which are intensifying his threat to democracy since millions of his supporters believe those lies. In an extraordinary comment, which raised questions about Trump’s grip on reality, he expressed surprise that he had not been reinstated as President because of “massive election fraud.”
