The Morning Dispatch: ‘Russia is Using Energy as a Weapon’

Happy Tuesday! Four distinctly American institutions are celebrating birthdays today: The U.S. postal system is turning 247, the FBI is turning 114, the Americans with Disabilities Act is turning 32, and former Bachelor host Chris Harrison is turning 50. 

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom announced Monday it is shutting down another gas turbine engine in its Nord Stream pipeline, reducing daily natural gas flows to Europe from 40 percent of the pipeline’s capacity to 20 percent. European countries accused Russia of weaponizing gas deliveries in retaliation for Ukraine-related sanctions, while Gazprom officials maintain the sanctions have prevented them from repairing necessary equipment.

  • Pope Francis traveled to Alberta on Monday to formally apologize on behalf of the Catholic Church for its involvement and participation in Canada’s residential school system, which separated thousands of indigenous children from their families between 1863 and 1996 and forced them to assimilate to Christian, Canadian culture. “I am deeply sorry … for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the indigenous peoples,” he said, acknowledging how the schools suppressed native languages and cultures and inflicted physical, verbal, and psychological abuse on the students.

  • Burmese state media reported Monday the country’s ruling military junta has executed four people—including a prominent pro-democracy activist and pro-democracy former lawmaker—on charges of treason and terrorism, marking the southeast Asian nation’s first formal executions since 1988. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights estimates, however, that Burma’s military regime has committed 2,000 extrajudicial killings since taking power in February 2021. “The regime’s sham trials and these executions are blatant attempts to extinguish democracy,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday.

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