Rampant identity theft is taxing the IRS
(NYTimes) — Rampant identity theft has overwhelmed the IRS, resulting in a backlog of 500,000 unresolved fraud cases, leaving taxpayers without refunds and credits that they are due, the agency’s watchdog wrote in a report to Congress on Wednesday. The report by the National Taxpayer Advocate described the slow pace of addressing the identity theft cases as a “blemish” on the performance of the IRS, which is in the midst of a sweeping modernization campaign that aims to improve taxpayer services. The IRS said in a statement that it is working to implement “a range of improvements” to provide faster service to victims.
Contraception is free by law. So why are a quarter of women still paying for it?
(NYTimes) — Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chair of the Senate health committee, called on a government watchdog to investigate why insurance companies are still charging women for birth control. In a letter to the Government Accountability Office, the senator noted that insurance companies were charging for contraceptives that, under the Affordable Care Act, should be free — and that they were also denying appeals from consumers who were seeking to have their contraceptives covered. Sanders cited a recent survey by KFF, a nonprofit health policy research organization, that found that roughly 25% of women with private insurance plans said they had paid at least some part of the cost of their birth control.
Five charged with attempting to bribe a juror
(NYTimes) — Federal prosecutors charged five people Wednesday with conspiring to bribe a juror in a high-profile federal trial in Minneapolis. The charges described a brazen plot that included surveillance of the juror and talking points drafted to help her argue for acquittal. The attempted bribe took place on the eve of the final day of a weekslong trial, prosecutors said, the first in what they have described as a far-reaching fraud scheme. Prosecutors have charged 70 people with stealing tens of millions of dollars from a federal aid program meant to feed children. Three of the people charged Wednesday with attempted bribery were defendants in the fraud trial.
San Diego Zoo to receive 2 giant pandas from China
(NYTimes) — The San Diego Zoo will soon be home to two giant pandas from China, the first to enter the United States in more than two decades, zoo officials said Wednesday. Yun Chuan, a 4-year-old-male, and Xin Bao, a 3-year-old female, were bid farewell at a ceremony Wednesday at the China Conservation &Research Center for Giant Pandas in Sichuan province. Afterward, they were to be flown to the United States, the San Diego Zoo said in a statement. It was unclear exactly when they would arrive in San Diego. They will need a few weeks to acclimate to their new home before they will be on view for visitors, the zoo said.
Banks could weather even extreme economic tumult, Fed finds
(NYTimes) — A severe spike in inflation. A plummet in the value of the dollar. The collapse of their biggest clients. The largest banks in America could survive even those dire economic scenarios, according to an analysis released by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday. The results are particularly noteworthy, because in addition to the Fed’s annual bank stress tests, this year, for the first time, the industry’s main regulator put big lenders through an enhanced hypothetical gauntlet. Some 31 banks — all with more than $100 billion in assets — also passed the more routine annual stress tests.
Trump says clean energy Is a scam. That could benefit China, experts say
(NYTimes) — Former President Donald Trump has attacked President Joe Biden’s policies to expand renewable energy as a “plan to make China rich” because America’s greatest economic rival also controls many of the parts needed for electric-vehicle batteries, solar panels and other green technology. But eliminating Biden’s climate policies would end up helping China, economists say, by jeopardizing hundreds of billions of dollars in manufacturing investments that have already been made in the United States and sending that work back to other countries, including China. Trump, who has called climate change a “hoax,” has targeted “every one” of Biden’s policies designed to transition the United States away from fossil fuels
Russia opens secret trial of US reporter accused of espionage
(NYTimes) — After nearly 15 months in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich went on trial Wednesday, facing up to 20 years in prison on an espionage charge that he, his employer and the U.S. State Department deny. He appeared in a court in the city of Yekaterinburg, where shortly before proceedings, journalists filmed Gershkovich, with his head recently shaved, standing in a glass cage in the courtroom. After several hours, the court scheduled the case’s next session for Aug. 13. At the heart of Gershkovich’s ordeal is a void — the absence of any evidence made public by Russian authorities to support their claim that he was a spy.
Rutte moves from leading Netherlands to heading NATO
(NYTimes) — Mark Rutte, the long-serving Dutch prime minister, was formally named the new secretary-general of NATO on Wednesday, putting an experienced, strongly pro-Ukraine leader with a reputation for conciliation at the head of the alliance. Rutte, 57, will take over from Jens Stoltenberg on Oct. 1, at a difficult time for NATO in the face of Russia’s war against Ukraine and in the midst of a tight race for the U.S. presidency. The decision, sealed by NATO ambassadors during a meeting at the 32-nation alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, removes a potentially contentious issue from the alliance’s 75th anniversary summit meeting next month in Washington.
Brazil becomes the largest nation to decriminalize marijuana
(NYTimes) — Brazil decriminalized marijuana for personal use Wednesday, making the nation of 203 million the largest to take such a measure and the latest sign of a growing global acceptance of the drug. Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that Brazilians could possess up to 40 grams of cannabis without facing penalties, a decision that would take effect within days and stand for the next 18 months. The court asked Brazil’s Congress and health authorities to then set the permanent amount of marijuana that citizens could possess. Selling marijuana remains a criminal offense.
NATO will offer Ukraine a ‘bridge’ to membership, hoping that’s enough
(NYTimes) — NATO will offer Ukraine new headquarters to manage military assistance at its upcoming 75th anniversary summit in Washington, officials said, an assurance of the alliance’s long-term commitment to the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had hoped his country would be offered membership negotiations by NATO at the summit. Instead, the alliance will announce that it has agreed to set up a mission in Germany to coordinate aid of all kinds to Ukraine, U.S. and NATO officials said. Because the mission will be under NATO’s auspices, it is designed to function even if Donald Trump, a sharp critic of NATO and of aid to Ukraine, wins the U.S. presidency in November.